With no fuss, a faceful of dirt, and long tons of brio, Golden Tempo defied his outside draw as well as Saratoga’s track bias against closers and did what he does best – bringing a magnificent run in the last furlongs – to snatch victory from every contender in the 158th Belmont Stakes. In manufacturing his win, the colt seemed a preternaturally focused contender, which is to say, he needed no special choreography of speed or any other early narrative playing out in front, as he had in May at Churchill. He seemed aware of the distance and what he had to do, and he brought his run with dispatch.

His efforts paid a tidy $14 to win because quite a bit of the track money had been thinking that the Saratoga’s bias toward stalkers and speed would see Golden Tempo beaten. A delightful irony of the tote, that. It was as if the victor had been reading his own press and set out to teach a master class in what could be done in a shorter Belmont on a disadvantageous track. Motoring on by Renegade and fending off Commandment in the stretch, Golden Tempo made it look as if the Belmont was never not going to be his race.

In his tactical assessment post-race, Golden Tempo’s adroit jockey Jose Ortiz mused as much. He said: "He wasn’t going to get that setup as he did in the Derby. We all knew that, and I was a little worried about it. He needed some kind of setup. But today, there wasn't one and he showed up today and won."

In fact, Golden Tempo brought another huge run, but with a slight bit more tactical quietude than the spectacular burst of long-winded power that took the Derby. At the half-mile pole, he was characteristically twelve lengths back. What jockey Ortiz calls “the setup” was brought by Golden Tempo. He had an iffy start, seeming to stumble slightly but overcame that quickly to settle in his customary rear territory. Shortly before the victor began his work up the backstretch, you could almost see the cartoon thought-bubble forming over his head, as if to broadcast some kind of challenge to the pack: Gonna hafta take you boys down one-by-one again, but I’ll get to that. Right now, just gonna watch you waste your time at the front.

Golden Tempo’s run didn’t exactly mirror his majestic Derby win, first, because it was a slower pace, but also because he was a bit more technically matter-of-fact as he went about it. In the training break between the two big races, the observant DeVaux actually noted to the press that she sensed Golden Tempo maturation. That showed in the doing as, predictably, down the Belmont stretch, Golden Tempo easily overcame Renegade and beat the place horse Commandment by a one-and-a-quarter lengths, a more decisive and more telling margin of victory than in his Kentucky Derby close against Renegade. As in the Derby, Chief Wallabee ran fourth.

With the win, the colt lofted his trainer Cherie DeVaux to yet a more exalted rung on racing history’s ladder. A Saratoga Springs native essentially racing at her home track, DeVaux is now the first female trainer in American racing history to win multiple Triple Crown races, the only woman to win the Derby and the Belmont, and further, and the only woman to have accomplished that with one horse. DeVaux said, “I think he needed to do this to kind of show that he was meant to win the Derby and that he is a horse that belongs in that conversation of being one of the top 3-year-olds.”

Clearly, DeVaux’s athlete is of the same opinion. Lacking human vocabulary, Golden Tempo’s athletic statement lies in his margin of victory, a racing Thoroughbred’s expression of authority over his work. In effect, a length-and-a-quarter announces to his three main Derby opponents: I beat you that way back then, but I had to beat you this way today.