Kentucky Derby: A leap of faith, a 23-1 long shot, and history — Cherie DeVaux’s Derby moment

Though it took her more than a year to win her first race after going out on her own as a trainer in 2018, it did not take long after that for her horsemanship to get noticed on the backside. That led to more owners and better stock. In 2024, her horses won more than $10 million on the racetrack. It was also when Daisy Phipps Pulito — whose father Dinny Phipps and grandfather Ogden Phipps operated one of the iconic stables of the 21st century — started to put some of their regally-bred horses in her barn.

“I love the way she works with horses,” Phipps Pulito said. “I love the way she develops a horse. We thought Golden Tempo would be a great match, and it was.”

Though plenty of female trainers have had success in American racing including Jena Antonucci, who won the Belmont Stakes in 2023 with Arcangelo, there’s no doubt that the backside is a male-dominated world.

Training is a hard, all-consuming job. Days off are almost nonexistent. Beyond the ability to connect with and understand a horse, you have to run a business. And, of course, you have to win.

Cherie DeVaux trainer of Golden Tempo #19, the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, celebrates with the trophy in the winner's circle following the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 02, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

(Michael Reaves via Getty Images)

When DeVaux left the powerhouse barn of Chad Brown to start her own stable, there were no guarantees. Her husband David Ingordo, a bloodstock agent, told her to give it three years. If it didn’t work out, she could do something else. That was never an option.

“Being a woman has never really crossed my mind in this journey,” she said. “The racetrack is a tough place if you’re a man. It’s a tough place if you’re a woman. The thing that really has become apparent to me is not everyone has the same constitution as I have mentally. And it’s really an honor to be that person for other women or other little girls to look up to. You can dream big and you can pivot. You can come from one place and make yourself a part of history.”

Horse racing has had a lot of tough days over the last decade. This was one of its best looks.

Here you had a young woman wearing a bright red blazer leading a Kentucky Derby winner into the winners’ circle. You had Irad Ortiz, the more celebrated of the Ortiz brothers, reaching out to grab Jose’s arm in celebration after barely getting out-finished in the race they both wanted desperately to win. And you had a long shot in Golden Tempo putting together the kind of stretch run that reminds people how thrilling and unpredictable this sport can be.

“She’s not just a trainer, she’s a horse person and I think that’s what the sport needs,” one of DeVaux’s best friends, Alysse Jacobs, said. “She cares about the animal. She treats each of her horses like an individual. She knows them and she loves them, and I think it goes a long way in making these horses really thrive, really become themselves.”

And now DeVaux isn’t just horse racing’s secret. She’s a superstar.

But one of those moments Jacobs talked about occurred early during Derby week. Golden Tempo was suffering from cracked heels, a minor condition that would be similar to chapped lips for a human — annoying and perhaps uncomfortable, but not a big deal.

After his Monday gallop, where he didn’t look quite 100 percent, an intense DeVaux brought him out of the stall and watched him intently as he walked up and down a path. She felt his legs for any heat, a sign of inflammation. And unlike most trainers, who tend to cover up little issues until they are unavoidable, she was honest and forthcoming with the public about what was going on.

In the aftermath, DeVaux went easy on the horse for a few days, just jogging him rather than giving him a full gallop — one of those intuitive moves many trainers would not make preparing for the biggest race of their life.

For someone who never intended to be a trainer in the first place, it was pretty impressive stuff.

“She has done such a great job with the horse and absolutely picking up the dynamic and making sure he was prepped to run how he does,” her sister, Adrianne, said. “He goes out the back door and makes his run. It’s amazing. It’s the pinnacle. This is what we watched on TV growing up. You cry over the stories. She started with one horse and it just means everything. I don’t have words.”

Not too bad for someone who never intended to be a trainer and just fell into it, one little step at a time.

“She started underneath us,” Butch DeVaux said. “I trained horses for 47 years and she was brought up that way. She jumped the fence to Thoroughbreds. Really proud of her.”

In some ways, the whole horse racing industry is. It was obvious to anyone watching the last few years how good DeVaux is, how much of an impact she was going to make in big races and what a feel-good story it would be for horse racing if a woman won the biggest prize of all. But to do it this quickly, in her first Kentucky Derby, is beyond what anyone could have imagined.

“None of us really can believe it,” she said. “There was a joke that I’m going to be a one-and-done. But now I think I’m going to have to do this again.”