Bill Mott made an unusual move for the Kentucky Derby, equipping the inexperienced Chief Wallabee with first-time blinkers. Mott thought they would improve the focus of a 1-for-3 colt who showed greenness in his previous two starts.
It didn't produce a victory, but it worked, because Chief Wallabee finished strongly for fourth, 2 3/4 lengths behind winner Golden Tempo and only two lengths behind third-place Ocelli. Pretty impressive for a horse who made his debut less than four months earlier. Chief Wallabee showed grit throughout a roughly run Derby in which he was brushed leaving the gate, brushed again, and bumped in the stretch.
“He proved to me that he had some determination,” Mott said. “I thought that getting bothered the way he did, he dug in and came on and got up for fourth money. With a clean trip, maybe he gets a little more than that.”
Mott said he never considered running in the Preakness Stakes (G1).
“He didn't have the foundation in him to do it,” he said. “I didn't think it was the right thing to do. He was such an inexperienced horse going into the Kentucky Derby that asking him to run in the Derby and back in two weeks would have been an awful lot.
“Having five weeks in between would suit him a little better. It would give him more recovery time from the Derby and give him an opportunity to show a little better in the Belmont.”
Now he has a fresh horse with room for improvement.
“With the race under him in the Derby, and with that little bit more in experience and five weeks in between, that makes him a factor in the Belmont.”
Chief Wallabee's three recent workouts have pleased Mott, who said, “He looks good, is working well, and doesn't look like he's lost any weight.” He's breezed three times over Saratoga's dirt training track since the Derby -- going an easy half-mile in 48.62 on May 16, followed by 5 furlongs in 1:00.80, fastest of the day at the distance, on May 23, and 5 furlongs in 1:01.40 on May 30.
| 2026 Belmont Stakes Odds | ||
| Official post positions set following the post-position draw on Monday, June 1, 2026. | ||
| PP | Horse / Trainer | Morning Line |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vitruvian ManAntonio Fresu · D. O'Neill | 30/1 |
| 2 | PowershiftLuis Saez · T. Pletcher | 12/1 |
| 3 | Chief WallabeeJunior Alvarado · W. Mott | 3/1 |
| 4 | RenegadeIrad Ortiz Jr. · T. Pletcher | 2/1 |
| 5 | OttinhoDylan Davis · C. Brown | 20/1 |
| 6 | Growth EquityManny Franco · C. Brown | 12/1 |
| 7 | CommandmentJohn Velazquez · B. Cox | 6/1 |
| 8 | Emerging MarketFlavien Prat · C. Brown | 6/1 |
| 9 | Golden TempoJose Ortiz · C. DeVaux | 9/2 |
Last Updated on 06/01/2026
Bill Mott took last year's Belmont Stakes with eventual Horse of the Year Sovereignty and won it in 2010 with longshot Drosselmeyer.
No one has trained back-to-back Belmont winners since all-time great D. Wayne Lukas won three in a row with Tabasco Cat (1994), Thunder Gulch (1995), and Editor's Note (1996).
Junior Alvarado could become the first jockey to repeat the next year since Laffit Pincay, Jr. swept three straight Belmonts for Woody Stephens in the Eighties. Pincay won "The Test of the Champion" on Conquistador Cielo (1982), Caveat (1983), and Swale (1984).
Chief Wallabee overcame his inexperience and answered the distance question in the Derby. He's definitely a win candidate in the Belmont and could be in the 6-1 odds range. If so, he's worth a wager. Let’s make your winning ticket using Chief Wallabee.
Ed McNamara is an award-winning racing writer who has covered the sport since 1981 for The Bergen (N.J.) Record, Newsday, ESPN, Thorocap, and USRacing. He is the author of Cajun Racing: From the Bush Tracks to the Triple Crown and Racing Around the World, and a contributor to The Most Glorious Crown and The Racetracks of America. He has also written for racing publications in France and Italy.
