SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Golden Tempo showed exactly why he is a great closer, and his stretch run at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday delivered more history for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

Ridden by jockey Jose Ortiz from 12 lengths off the lead, Golden Tempo surged from the back of the pack to win the 158th rendition of the race. The victory came five weeks after his last-to-first charge to win the Kentucky Derby.

“Golden Tempo is amazing. Jose is amazing,” 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.”

Golden Tempo held off Commandment to win by a length and a quarter at 6-1 odds. Commandment was second, and favorite Renegade placed third.

“I followed them closely in the second turn,” Ortiz said. “They started to pick it up, so I did as well. I was just waiting for the right time to go all-in. When I asked him to go, my horse responded.”

DeVaux, after becoming the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner, is the second in four years to do so at the Belmont. Jena Antonucci won it with Arcangelo in 2023. DeVaux is the first woman to win multiple Triple Crown races.

“It’s overwhelming,” DeVaux said. “All the credit goes to Golden Tempo, who won the race, and Jose did a wonderful job of making it hpen. But I’m just so fortunate to be in this position. It’s history-making, and I’ve kind of shied away from it, but I’m really grateful that I am that person.”

DeVaux was born in Saratoga Springs and began her training career there, but she doesn’t call herself a Saratoga native. She spends most of her time in Kentucky now, and she said she grew up in southern Florida. But after all the support she has received from this town, she has started to embrace it.

“Everyone is kind of calling me the hometown girl,” DeVaux said. “So, that’s kind of fun. I’m going to miss our petizer [at] Saratoga, as we call it, the ‘Bellatoga.'”

Golden Tempo was the third choice in the race. There were concerns about whether he could pull off another big comeback win in a field that included Renegade, the Todd Pletcher-trained horse that finished second to Golden Tempo by a neck in the Derby.

The pace was not nearly as fast as it was at Churchill Downs, yet Golden Tempo still was able to close in time to win the 1¼-mile race in 2:03.49. It didn’t matter, as he was the best in the Belmont’s field of nine horses.

“He wasn’t going to get that setup as he did in the Derby,” Ortiz said. “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.”

Golden Tempo won two-thirds of the Triple Crown after DeVaux and owners decided to bypass the Preakness Stakes. He is the second horse in as many years to win the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont after not running in the middle jewel.

“We made our decision, and we won today, and we’re going to be hpy about that,” DeVaux said.

This was the third and final time for the Belmont at Saratoga in upstate New York, while its traditional home on the border of Queens and Long Island is getting demolished and rebuilt. Run at 1¼ miles because of the track at Saratoga, the race is set to return to Belmont Park next year, when it will go back to its traditional 1½-mile distance.

“It’s so meaningful,” DeVaux said. “A lot of family here. Saratoga, it’s been wonderful to have such a historic race here. … It’s so meaningful because the town gets to have this and celebrate it along with us.”

Golden Tempo paid $14 to win, $7.32 to place and $3.88 to show. Commandment paid $7.02 to show and $4.08 to place, while Renegade paid $2.52 to place.

Ortiz followed Renegade, ridden by older brother Irad, just as he did in the Derby. It worked out just the same in the first Saturday in June as the first Saturday in May.

“He was bouncing a bit today, which made me very hpy because I wanted him to be a little bit sharper today,” Jose Ortiz said of Golden Tempo. “You can see him; he’s very relaxed. He does what I ask him to do. That’s the main thing.”

Co-owner Vinnie Viola dedicated the race to his late friend Dominic DiPrisco, who died Wednesday at age 70. Viola prayed to DiPrisco Saturday morning, hoping for an extra push in the Belmont Stakes.

“I know you’re in heaven, and I love you, and this race is for you,” Viola said. “It means more than I can express in words right now.”

Ortiz won the Belmont Stakes for the second time, nine years after his first aboard Twrit in 2017.

“We just wanted him to get better and keep winning these kinds of races,” Ortiz said of Golden Tempo. “We’re very hpy with him. It’s all about him.”

Antonelli keeps raising the bar in the second season of his career and this was as impressive as it has got so far.

A Monaco pole is a statement performance for any driver and one of the biggest prizes in Formula 1. To deliver in this fashion, at the age of 19, underlined his potential as the most likely world champion this year at this early stage.

He and Verstpen were separated by just 0.001secs after their first runs in the final session and Antonelli said he had produced a “magic l” to beat the Dutchman.

Leclerc went out early for the final runs after missing his first l with a lock-up at Mirabeau, and he put himself at the top with his first effort.

Verstpen then beat that mark by 0.257secs to take top spot, only for Antonelli to displace him.

Leclerc was not finished – he had given himself time to have one final l as the last driver on track. But he went over the limit and slid wide on the entry to Tabac, crunching his right rear wheel against the wall and breaking his rear suspension.

Antonelli said: “I was able to put everything together. It was such a close qualifying session. The last l was good.”

Verstpen said he was surprised to be able to compete for pole position.

“If you would have told me yesterday I would be on the front row, I would have taken it,” he said. “So heading into qualifying and being up there was extremely positive. Very hpy with how qualifying went.”

Ferrari had been quickest on Friday, first and second in both sessions, but Hamilton said the car felt different as soon as qualifying started.

“We were looking so good in practice and then the car was drastically different in qualifying,” Hamilton said, “so we have to take a look at that. But I was giving it everything. What a privilege it is to be one of the 22 drivers who gets to do this. I loved every second of it.”

Kimi Antonelli set the pace after putting in a blistering qualifying l on Saturday to take pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix.

The 19-year-old Italian is currently leading the drivers’ championship and crossed the line with a time of 1:12.051 on the soft tyres.

He snatched pole from Red Bull’s Max Verstpen by 0.043 seconds, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished in third.

Charles Leclerc qualified fourth after hitting the wall on his last flying l, and Verstpen’s teammate Isack Hadjar was fifth fastest.

With a year to go until the World Cup starts in Brazil, this was a concerning scoreline that gives Wiegman plenty to ponder.

Facing world champions Spain away is arguably the toughest test in football, but to lose so comfortably was not an easy watch.

Former England midfielder Fran Kirby said Wiegman’s players looked “deflated” at full-time and she “hurt just watching it”.

“They will learn from it, and they have to rise up to put in a good performance against Ukraine,” Kirby told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Just the top team from their group automatically qualifies for the World Cup and even if England beat Ukraine on Tuesday they will likely miss out, with this defeat by Spain the only blotch on their otherwise solid campaign.

So what damage did the 4-0 defeat have on England?

“Of course, it’s not a great scoreline. It’s hard, it’s dispointing, and I think there was a difference – a big difference – between ourselves and Spain,” added Wiegman.

“We review this, recover, stick together, play a good game and then move forward.

“We know if we qualify [automatically] that there’s a different preparation than if we don’t qualify. Let’s first see what hpens on Tuesday.”

England midfielder Keira Walsh, who ctained the side in the absence of injured centre-back Leah Williamson, conceded they “just weren’t good enough”.

“Spain played incredibly well but I think there are a lot of things we could have done better. It felt like they had bodies everywhere,” said Walsh.

“It was very difficult to get out of our own box. I don’t have solutions right now. Obviously we’ll look back but right now the emotions are very high.

“It was a dispointing game. We’ve still got a small chance to qualify automatically. It’s out of our hands. We can hope Iceland do us a favour.”

NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett, a two-time Cup champion and longtime broadcaster, died peacefully Thursday of natural causes at his home in Newton, North Carolina, his family announced. He was 93.

Jarrett won 50 races during his career and was the champion of NASCAR’s top series in 1961 and 1965, when he won 13 races and finished in the top five in 42 of 54 races despite breaking his back in a June wreck at Greenville-Pickens (SC) Speedway.

During the 1966 season, Jarrett lost his manufacturer support when Ford Motor Co. pulled out of the sport. Jarrett opted to retire while on top at just age 34 and spend more time with his family.

“Our father was a devout Christian and a devoted, loving family man,” the Jarrett family said in a statement. “He was a friend to everyone he met and NASCAR’s oldest living champion. By all accounts, he was a true NASCAR legend. While we mourn his passing, we celebrate the remarkable life of an amazing man and truly the best father anyone could have wished for. Rest in Peace, Dad.”

Jarrett was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011 as part of the second five-member class.

He returned to the sport as a radio broadcaster with MRN in 1978, and he later moved to the television booth with CBS and ESPN. One of his signature moments came at the 1993 Daytona 500, when he called the finish to the race and openly rooted as his son, Dale Jarrett, took the checkered flag ahead of Dale Earnhardt.

“Despite his calm demeanor, ‘Gentleman’ Ned Jarrett was as fierce a competitor as NASCAR has ever seen,” NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said in a statement. “His on-track accomplishments speak for themselves with wins and championships across several NASCAR divisions. But it was his off-the-track persona that separated Ned from his peers. He was as kind as his nickname indicated. And his endearing personality helped him excel in his second career as a broadcaster. Ned was an outstanding ambassador for the sport for more than six decades, and he will be dearly missed. On behalf of the France family and all of NASCAR, I offer my deepest condolences to all of Ned’s family and friends on the loss of a NASCAR legend.”

The Jarretts were the second father-son combination to win championships at NASCAR’s highest level, and both are members of the Hall of Fame.