The road to the Triple Crown continues on Saturday as nine horses look to follow the path of Secretariat when the starting gate opens in the 2026 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, N.Y. Secretariat remains the only horse to ever have won the Gotham en route to winning the Triple Crown in 1973. Iron Honor is the latest to try to follow that path as he is the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the 2026 Gotham Stakes odds. Iron Honor is trained by Chad Brown, a five-time trainer of the year, and will be ridden by jockey Manuel Franco.
Other Gotham Stakes 2026 contenders include Crown the Buckeye (4-1), Hammond (5-1), Balboa (6-1) and Right to Party (8-1). Saturday’s post time for the Gotham Stakes is set for 5:18 p.m. ET. Before making any 2026 Gotham Stakes picks, be sure to see the horse racing predictions and futures bets from SportsLine’s elite horse racing guru Jeff Hochman.
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Hochman delivered exceptional handicapping results during the summer 2025 racing season at two of the country’s premier tracks, Saratoga and Del Mar. His combined 65.7% win rate across the two tracks represents elite-level performance that significantly exceeds industry benchmarks for professional handicappers. Anyone who has followed him on horse racing betting sites could be way up.
Now, with the 2026 Gotham Stakes approaching and horse racing odds on the board, Hochman is sharing his 2026 Gotham Stakes betting picks and 2026 Gotham Stakes predictions over at SportsLine. Go here to see them.
Top 2026 Gotham Stakes predictions
One of Hochman’s surprising 2026 Gotham Stakes picks: He doesn’t have the favorite, Iron Honor (6-5), as his top horse. Despite winning his debut on Dec. 13, winning by 1.5 lengths in a final time of 1:11.23, a number of factors have given Hochman pause.
“The performance generated an astronomical 86 Equibase Speed Figure — one of the fastest assigned to a 2-year-old colt in the nation. Still, there are red flags,” Hochman said. “The colt needed blinkers in his debut due to inconsistent training, and the taxing nature of that fast effort left him sore. Trainer Chad Brown gave him 11 weeks to recover. Now, he faces a major test stretching out from a six-furlong sprint to a tough one-turn mile in graded stakes company against proven rivals. It’s possible he’s using this race as a prep, making a runner-up finish likely.” See who to back at SportsLine, and you can make bets at TwinSpires here:
How to make 2026 Gotham Stakes picks, bets
He also is high on a double-digit longshot with an “adaptable running style.” Hochman is sharing which horse it is, along with his entire projected 2026 Gotham Stakes leaderboard, over at SportsLine.
Which horse wins the Gotham Stakes 2026, and which huge double-digit longshot is a must-back? Check out the latest 2026 Gotham Stakes odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Hochman’s picks for the Gotham Stakes, all from the expert who has a 65.7% win rate.
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