Jim Dandy 2026: Morning Line Odds As Commandment And Renegade Toe Off

To understand the import of Saratoga’s August 1 kickoff Jim Dandy Stakes this Saturday, we should begin by noting the most significant absence from the field, that of Kentucky Derby and Belmont victor Golden Tempo, pictured top left as he won the May 2 Derby with his regular rider Jose Ortiz up. Late in June, and training in his record-breaking trainer Cherie DeVaux’s native Saratoga while being aimed for the Jim Dandy and eventually the Travers Stakes, Golden Tempo came down with a case of pneumonia. It was caught early enough to have been kept mild by DeVaux and her team so that the champion missed just ten days of training. But it scratched him from contention in this weekend’s Jim Dandy.

Specifically, what will be missed this Saturday is greater than just the horse, Golden Tempo. Midsummer is that lovely, and fabulously uncertain, time of year in American racing when campaigns for the Breeders’ Cup races are being tweaked and re-tweaked at tracks across the country. What we might call the “eastern” path of Breeders’ building blocks is made of the Haskell at Monmouth, the Jim Dandy and the Travers at Saratoga.

Without further ado, here is the five-horse field for the 2026 Jim Dandy.

(Post Position, Trainer, Jockey, Morning Line Odds)

1. Chip Honcho, Steve Asmussen, Jose Ortiz,

2. Asked and Answered, Antonio Arriaga, Jaime Rodriguez

3. Renegade, Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr.

4. Silent Tactic, Mark Casse, Luis Saez

5. Commandment, Brad Cox, Flavien Prat

(Source: New York Racing Association, 7/29/2026)

It’s not to be contested that having the Florida, Arkansas and Ohio Derby winners in Commandment, Renegade and Chip Honcho in Saturday’s key Travers prep – and among those three, two Triple-Crown placers and a Triple Crown show-horse in the tight five-horse field – makes for a fine race. Though Golden Tempo will miss this Saturday showdown, that won’t affect his Travers bid, but his absence will cast a greater shadow over Saturday’s running because we won’t have the luxury of watching him go up against his tough rival and the Derby’s strong place runner Renegade, pictured top centers just a stride behind Golden Tempo, or against his close Belmont rival Commandment.

Outside the hysteria of the Triple Crown season itself, it’s useful in several ways to have these Triple Crown re-matches – particularly Churchill re-matches – as the trainers and owners game their charges Breeders’ campaigns. Certainly not least, a rematch gives each trainer a picture of where the competition is, but arguably more important is the intimate barometric pressure reading such a rematch provides of any runner’s own condition as put up against that of his or her rivals.

We shall, however, be treated to the fourth race in which Renegade and Commandment have competed, and that is plenty complex.