SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Renegade, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, drew post 4 and was installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite by Daily Racing Form and New York Racing Association linemaker David Aragona in a field of nine entered for Saturday’s $2 million Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. 

Renegade was hampered by his rail draw in the 18-horse Kentucky Derby as he was bounced around early in the race and lost valuable position in the run to the first turn. Still, under Irad Ortiz Jr., Renegade came with a tremendous late run that fell just a neck short to Golden Tempo. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Nysos, second in the $20 million Saudi Cup in February, will break from the rail and Journalism, the 2025 Preakness winner, will start from the outside in a seven-horse field entered Sunday for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap, one of six stakes on the Belmont Stakes undercard at Saratoga. 

The fields for 13 of the 14 races scheduled for Saturday were drawn on Sunday. The field for the Belmont Stakes was to be drawn Monday night at an event in downtown Saratoga Springs. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Sovereignty, the reigning Horse of the Year, picked up the pace in his preparation for the Grade 1, $2 million Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 28 with a five-furlong workout in 1:01.21 Sunday morning over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track. 

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Longtime Ontario owner/breeder Howard Walton, who campaigned Canadian champion Maritimer, died in Toronto on May 29 at age 81.

Under the nom de plume Norseman Racing Stable, Walton won 290 races, including 20 stakes, while accumulating $11.3 million U.S. in earnings. Among his 13 stakes winners, aside from Maritimer, were the Grade 2-winning sprinter Signature Red, a successful Ontario sire, and three-time added-money winner Generous Touch. All three were conditioned by the Hall of Famer Sid Attard, who said he trained for Walton for 30 years.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Ocelli is getting off the Triple Crown trail. 

Ocelli, a maiden who finished third in the Kentucky Derby on May 2 and fourth in the Preakness on May 16, will not run in the $2 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, trainer Whit Beckman said Sunday. Instead, Ocelli will be pointed to the Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 20. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Kathynmarissa and Gezora, the one-two finishers from the Grade 3 Modesty Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 1, will renew acquaintances in Friday’s Grade 1, $750,000 New York Stakes at Saratoga. This meeting comes with a twist. 

In the Modesty, Kathynmarissa and Gezora were both sent out by Chad Brown. Gezora, the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner last fall for Francis-Henri Graffard, was making her first start for Brown in the Modesty. 

Brant, a Grade 1-winning 2-year-old who finished fifth in the San Felipe in his lone start at 3, will not run in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens, trainer Bob Baffert said Saturday. 

“I’m not going to bring him, I’ll find another spot for him, that’s a tough race,” said Baffert, who mentioned the Grade 3, $275,000 Maxfield Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 28 as a possible spot.