With a pedigree that includes sire Gun Runner’s affinity for classic distances and the grit that comes from her dam sire, Malibu Moon, along with deep-pocketed owners in Douglas Scharbauer and Three Chimneys Farm and a five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer in Chad Brown, Always a Runner seemed to have the odds with her when it came to surviving a serious bout with pneumonia last fall.
With the best care money could buy, the question wasn’t so much whether the dark bay filly would live, but whether she’d have the chance to justify her $1.05 million price tag in the 2024 Keeneland September yearling sale.
So far, the answer has been yes. And yes. And yes.
Friday at Saratoga Race Course, undefeated (3-for-3) Always a Runner looks to expand her resume as the 4-5 morning-line favorite in the $500,000 Acorn Stakes, one of three Grade 1 races on Day 3 of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The festivities continue Saturday at the Spa with the 158th running of the Belmont Stakes and a 12-race card that includes the nine graded stakes.
| 2026 Belmont Stakes Fair Odds | ||
| Official post positions, contenders and odds will be published following the post-position draw on Monday, June 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET. | ||
| PP | Horse / Trainer | Fair Odds |
|---|---|---|
| TBD | RenegadeTBD · T. Pletcher | 9/5 |
| TBD | Golden TempoTBD · C. DeVaux | 9/2 |
| TBD | Chief WallabeeTBD · W. Mott | 5/1 |
| TBD | Vitruvian ManTBD · D. O'Neill | 20/1 |
| TBD | CommandmentTBD · B. Cox | 5/1 |
| TBD | PowershiftTBD · T. Pletcher | 20/1 |
| TBD | Emerging MarketTBD · C. Brown | 7/1 |
| TBD | Growth EquityTBD · C. Brown | 14/1 |
| TBD | OcelliTBD · W. Beckman | 20/1 |
| TBD | OttinhoTBD · C. Brown | 25/1 |
Last Updated on 05/29/2026
The 1 1/8-mile Acorn, which will feature a rematch of the top three finishers from the Kentucky Oaks (G1) – including Meaning (3-1) and Counting Stars (9-2), along with fifth-place finisher Prom Queen (7-2) - is joined by the $750,000 New York Stakes (G1) and the $500,000 Ogden Phipps (G1) along with the $300,000 Bed o’Roses (G2) and the $300,000 Wonder Again (G2).
Always a Runner quickly stamped herself as one of the premier fillies in Brown’s barn last year, but all that came to a halt in September when she developed pneumonia and spent a month undergoing treatments. She returned to the work tab in late December and, despite a brief hiccup in the spring, made a successful debut at Tampa Bay Downs, running away to a 6 ½-length victory going a mile and 40 yards. That was followed by a late-running win at 1 1/8 miles in the Gazelle Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct, after which Brown elected to put her on the Oaks trail.
In one of the most prestigious races for sophomore fillies, Always a Runner came on late under Jose Ortiz to gain command inside the eighth pole and win by 1 ¼ lengths in 1:48.82.
The win was the first in the Oaks for Brown and the second for Ortiz, who went on to complete the Oaks/Kentucky Derby double the next day aboard Golden Tempo.
“A great trip and a great ride. I think Jose did a fabulous job, especially in the first half of the race by holding his position between horses in traffic,” Brown said. “He never lost position, and I think that was really key. He kept her there, and he kept her position to just move forward, and they got along really well. This is going to be a much different race in a short field, so we’ll have to see how it all works out. There are really good horses in the race, just not many [runners].”
In the Acorn, Always a Runner, who earned a 99 Equibase speed figure for her Oaks win, will face a much smaller field than last.
“You’re in a short field in big races, and there’s not a lot to say,” Brown said. “The more you say, the more you can confuse things. It’s just going to have to be the horses finding themselves wherever they’re supposed to be.”
Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Meaning, second in the Oaks, was coming off back-to-back wins at Santa Anita Park in the listed Las Vírgenes and the Santa Anita Oaks (G2).
"I thought that was a very good performance in the Kentucky Oaks,” trainer Mike McCarthy said of the Gun Runner filly. “She seems like she's holding her form. I'm looking forward to running her at Saratoga and trying it again."
In the Oaks, West Point Thoroughbreds’ Counting Stars wound up 2 ¼ lengths behind Always a Runner in third and is looking to give trainer Mark Casse a second straight win in the Acorn, having won last year with La Cara.
Prom Queen, trained by two-time Acorn winner Brad Cox, is 7-2 after finishing fifth in the Oaks. She earned her spot by taking the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) at 1 1/16 miles.
Maximum Offer, trained by Ken McPeek, who won the 2024 Acorn with Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, is 15-1 after taking a Kentucky Oaks undercard optional claiming win traveling 1 1/16 miles. She’s back in stakes company after finishing fourth in the listed Martha Washington and fifth in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2).
With no filly having demonstrated dominant speed, and the top three from the Oaks having finished within 2 1/4 lengths of each other, it could wind up anybody’s race. As in, who’s making the pace? Most of these have done their best work sitting mid-pack rather than towing the field through swift fractions. In Always a Runner’s case, she doesn’t need a pace meltdown to make her move; she can simply inherit the lead even if the fractions are glacial.
So, the question is not who’s going to be fastest but who’s willing to be first. Always a Runner could well find herself either dictating the pace herself or luxuriating in a perfect tracking trip. In any event, the jockeys on the favorites (all four of them) might wind up being more aggressive than their fillies’ running lines suggest.
Jenny Kellner is an award-winning journalist and teacher who has covered thoroughbred racing for years. As a reporter for both United Press International and The Associated Press, her work has appeared in publications and on websites around the world. Jenny has also written for The New York Times, the New York Post, Newsday and Sports Illustrated.
