SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The story of the Kentucky Derby wasn’t the winning horse, Golden Tempo. It was primarily about Cherie DeVaux becoming the first female trainer to win the Derby in its storied 152-year history.  Golden Tempo? Well, he was the beneficiary of a rapid pace that fell apart and of trouble for Renegade, who was hampered by his rail draw and came up just a neck short.  On Saturday, in sultry Saratoga where a rain shower hit just three minutes to post, Golden Tempo became the story of the 158th Belmont Stakes. Overcoming a speed-biased track that produced some of the fastest times this venue has ever seen, Golden Tempo again rallied from last and won the $2 million Belmont by 1 1/4 lengths before a crowd of 46,128.  Commandment, who finished 5 1/4 lengths behind Golden Tempo in the Derby, finished second in the Belmont, four lengths ahead of Renegade. Chief Wallabee was fourth with Emerging Market fifth as the five horses who ran in the Kentucky Derby and skipped the Preakness finished one through five.  :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Newcomers to the Triple Crown scene Growth Equity, Vitruvian Man, Ottinho and Powershift completed the order of finish.  Golden Tempo became the second straight Kentucky Derby winner to win the Belmont after skipping the Preakness, Sovereignty having done the same last year. Golden Tempo became the 13th horse - not including Triple Crown winners - to win the Derby and Belmont.  At 6-1, Golden Tempo became the longest shot of those Derby winners to annex the Belmont, further evidence of the doubt surrounding Golden Tempo entering the Belmont.  “I, wrongfully, probably thought that because of the way the race was run in the Derby he was having to go out and prove himself,” DeVaux said. “We felt the best horse won the Kentucky Derby and it just solidified that today.”  Both DeVaux and jockey Jose Ortiz said that what Golden Tempo lacked in speed he made up for in stamina, and the 1 1/4-mile distance likely was the factor in him winning.  “I knew this race was going to be tougher because of the lack of pace, but I think the distance helped him a lot,” said Ortiz, who won his second Belmont Stakes. “He’s a horse that can do the mile-and-a-quarter with no problem; he proved it again today. We’re very happy we came back and proved that the Derby wasn’t a fluke.”  Saratoga’s main track on Saturday saw some wicked fast winning times. Englishman, a 3-year-old trained by DeVaux, won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens on the front and equaled a 48-year-old track record for seven furlongs. Ortiz was aboard for that one as well.  In the Kentucky Derby, Golden Tempo was 18 lengths back in an 18-horse field. On Saturday, after breaking to the right from his outside post, Ortiz was able to move Golden Tempo into the two-path by the time the field entered the first turn.  Powershift, under Luis Saez, made the lead and was pressed by Growth Equity; the two set modest fractions of 48.29 for the half-mile and 1:12.38 for six furlongs. Down the backside, Commandment and Renegade ran seventh and eighth, racing in the two- and three-path outside of Ottinho, with Golden Tempo in last.  At the half-mile pole, Renegade started to move and Ortiz advanced Golden Tempo between Ottinho and Commandment. At the quarter pole, there were virtually six horses across the track. At the eighth pole, Chief Wallabee made a short lead, but Renegade, Golden Tempo and  and Commandment were coming. It was in the last 50 yards that Golden Tempo edged away.  “I tried to keep him tactical and in contention with the field and I tried to keep him as close as I could and just make my move at the right time,” Ortiz said. “With Renegade and Commandment I got a split between them and he responded well.”  Ortiz said every time Commandment got closer to me “my horse gave me another gear.”  Golden Tempo, a son of Curlin owned and bred by the Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:03.49 and returned $14 to win.  The victory was particularly meaningful to Vinnie Viola, who along with his wife Teresa race under the St. Elias banner. Vinnie Viola said his childhood friend Dominic DiPrisco died on Wednesday,   “I said my prayers this morning, I asked Dominic to help with the horse, which I knew he would,” said Viola, the owner of the NHL’s Florida Panthers. “He will be deeply, deeply missed. This race is dedicated to Dominic DiPrisco.”  For the Phipps family, this was its first Belmont Stakes victory since Easy Goer denied Sunday Silence the Triple Crown in 1989.  “It’s been a hot minute since we won the Belmont,” Daisy Phipps Pulito, who along with her brother Ogden Phipps II operate the stable. "What my great-grandmother, grandfather and father built, are what Ogden and I get to reap the rewards from. He’s a phenomenal horse, he’s got a fantastic pedigree. Obviously, there were doubters after the Derby. Like Cherie said, we were confident with the kind of horse we had going into the Derby and going into the Belmont and I’m glad everybody else got to see that today, too.”  Commandment, the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby winner, was, under John Velazquez, moving with Golden Tempo in the stretch but couldn’t match strides with him in the final yards.  “He ran big. He showed up,” trainer Brad Cox said. “He acted like he was going to give us a big effort and he did. He was just second-best. No excuse. He was on even terms with the winner turning for home and just came up short.”  Renegade, who came within a neck of Golden Tempo in the Kentucky Derby, was also in contention until the sixteenth pole, but flattened out and finished third as the 8-5 favorite.  "I thought he got a pretty good trip; he got clear late at the top of the stretch, that's what we were looking to do,” Todd Pletcher, trainer of Renegade, said. “He gave him a little bit of a run, but not the same sustained run that he made in the Derby. I think he was just a little flat today. The only excuse I make is that he probably ended up needing a little more time between races.”  DeVaux said the time between the Derby and Belmont was just enough to refill her horse’s tank and validated the decision to skip the Preakness.  “I do think that we made the right decision, I don’t think we’d have the same horse if we did run back in two weeks,” DeVaux said. “It’s a horse-by-horse, case-by-case decision. And for him, as much growth as we’ve seen in him, it would have been hard to follow that up in two weeks and subsequently in three weeks.”  Now, time won’t be an issue for Golden Tempo. The Travers here on Aug. 29 is the next major target and DeVaux will have plenty of time to train him up to that race or give him a prep ace like the Jim Dandy here on Aug. 1 or the Haskell at Monmouth Park on July 18.  - additional reporting by Mike Welsch  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.