Cherie DeVaux made history on Saturday by becoming the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, as her horse Golden Tempo stormed from last place to victory by a neck at Churchill Downs.
Jockey Joe Ortiz guided the 23-1 longshot past the 4-1 favorite Renegade, ridden by his brother Irad Ortiz Jr., in a dramatic finish. Ocelli finished third in the 152nd running of the race.
"Today's my day and Golden Tempo's day," said Joe Ortiz, who finally won America's most prestigious Flat race on his 11th attempt. "I want [brother Irad] to win the Derby, of course — I know it's his dream as well — but it happened that way. I think he should be happy, his horse ran a very good race."
DeVaux, who began her career as an exercise rider at Churchill Downs 22 years ago, said she never imagined she would one day win the Kentucky Derby as a trainer.
"I started my career here 22 years ago as a bright-eyed bushy tailed exercise rider and I would not believe that I would be sitting up here today," she said after the race.
Golden Tempo was at the back of the 18-horse field with half a mile to go in the 1 1/4-mile race. Renegade also trailed, about 15 lengths back midway through, trying to become the first horse to win from the inside gate in 40 years. But after charging down the final stretch, it looked like the favorite would prevail — until Golden Tempo edged past him at the wire, finishing in 2 minutes 2.27 seconds.
Joe Ortiz followed up his victory in the Kentucky Oaks aboard Always A Runner on Friday to become just the ninth jockey to win both races in the same year.
'I'm glad I could be a representative of women everywhere'
The thrilling finish was almost too much for the history-making trainer to bear, as DeVaux joined Jena Antonucci — who trained Arcangelo to win the 2023 Belmont Stakes — as the only female trainers to win a Triple Crown race in the United States.
"I don't have any words, I'm so, so happy," said DeVaux, who has saddled 298 winners in 1,802 career starts. "I'm glad I could be a representative of women everywhere and I want to say thank you to the team at Phipps Stable and St Elias Stable [the owners]. In the summer of 2017 I was kind of at a crossroads in life and my husband told me that I owed it to myself to at least try. He had the faith in me and he saw what I didn't see and believed in me."