Trainer Cherie DeVaux said she was at a crossroads back in 2017, trying to figure out what she wanted to do next with her life.
After deciding to start her own stable eight years ago, that journey led her to history at the Kentucky Derby.
Golden Tempo won the 152nd edition of the Run for the Roses in 2:02.27, rallying from the back of the pack at a blistering pace down the stretch to win and make DeVaux the first woman trainer to win the Derby.
Heading into Saturday’s $5 million purse headliner, the first leg of the Triple Crown, it was anyone’s guess which horse out of a handful of contenders would win it. But Golden Tempo (23-1) was not expected to be the disruptor it was. He was dead last in the field but closed in from the outside and rallied from about seventh lengths back at the top of the stretch in a thrilling finish that lived up to the race’s hype as “the most exciting two minutes in sports.”
Starting co-favorite Renegade (5-1) was second, while Ocelli, an also-eligible horse who made the field earlier this week, finished third. The official payout for the race based on a $2 bet was $48.24 (win), $19.14 (place) and $11.90 (show).
“I am glad I can be a representative of women everywhere, that we can do anything we set our minds to,” DeVaux told NBC in a post-race interview.
DeVaux, who is also the second woman trainer to win any Triple Crown race after Jena Antonucci won with Arcangelo in the 2023 Belmont Stakes, won the Derby with her first entrant after starting her own independent stable in 2018. She is also the first woman trainer to win both the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby in the same year.
It was also the first Derby win for jockey Jose Ortiz, who was 0-for-10 heading into Saturday. Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose’s brother, was riding Renegade and searching for his own first Derby win (0-for-9) but had to settle for second.
The race went off with just 18 horses after Great White, literally the largest horse in the field, was a late scratch after he threw off jockey Alex Achard. Great White rolled on his back and popped back up under his own power with Achard quickly moving out of harm’s way. Most of the field was already in the starting gate, but the horses had to leave and re-enter after Great White was led off the track.
The field completed the 1 1/4-mile race under chillier (yet dry and fast) track conditions with post-time temps at 54 degrees under partly cloudy skies. Official attendance for Saturday’s race was 150,415.
Next up is The Preakness on May 16, which will be held at Laurel Park for 2026 while Pimlico undergoes renovations. Two of the past four Kentucky Derby winners have not raced the second Triple Crown leg given the short turnaround time between races. It was unclear whether Golden Tempo would be in The Preakness.
“I don’t know yet,” Daisy Phipps Pulito, one of Golden Tempo’s owners told NBC during its broadcast. “We’ll have to see how he comes out of the race.”
