A barrier that had held firm across more than a century and a half
On a cool Saturday at Churchill Downs, a horse named Golden Tempo crossed the finish line first at the 152nd Kentucky Derby, and in doing so, trainer Cherie DeVaux stepped into a place in history that no woman had ever occupied before. Across more than 150 years of one of sport's most storied traditions, the trainer's role had remained a male domain — until now. The victory was an upset, the field was diminished by injury and misfortune, and the weather was unseasonably cold, yet none of it diminished what the moment meant: a long-held door had finally opened.
- A sport with 151 years of male-only Derby winners suddenly has a new kind of champion in the trainer's box — Cherie DeVaux has broken through a barrier that outlasted generations of women who tried.
- The race nearly unraveled before it began, with five horses scratched due to injuries and infections, and one more pulled at the gate after a dangerous accident during loading.
- Golden Tempo entered as an underdog against the favored Renegade, making the victory not just historic but emphatic — a horse that wasn't supposed to win, guided by a trainer who wasn't supposed to be there.
- Frigid temperatures some twenty degrees below Louisville's May average added an eerie, almost defiant atmosphere to the day, as if the conditions themselves were testing whether history would be made.
- With a fast track and clear skies cutting against the cold, Golden Tempo ran clean and ran true, landing DeVaux's name permanently in the record books of American thoroughbred racing.
Golden Tempo won the 152nd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, and trainer Cherie DeVaux made history in the process — becoming the first woman ever to train a Kentucky Derby winner. The victory came as an upset over the favored Renegade, lending the milestone an extra dimension: DeVaux's horse didn't just compete, it won when it mattered most.
The road to post time was turbulent. Five horses were scratched in the days and hours leading up to the race — some due to injury, others to illness — and a last-minute gate accident involving Great White reduced the field to eighteen runners just before the start. The chaos of the scratches meant the race took shape differently than anyone had anticipated.
The weather, too, was unusual. Temperatures hovered around fifty-four degrees an hour before post time, roughly twenty degrees below the historical average for early May in Louisville. It was cold, though not record-breaking — the Derby's coldest days on record reached thirty-six degrees in 1940 and 1957. The track itself was fast and the skies clear, a stark contrast to the previous year's muddy running.
DeVaux's win carries weight far beyond a single race. The Kentucky Derby has been run since 1875, and in all that time, no woman had ever stood in the winner's circle as a trainer. That streak is now over. In a sport where tradition runs as deep as the bloodlines of its horses, Saturday's result rewrote one of the oldest remaining chapters.
Golden Tempo crossed the finish line at Churchill Downs on Saturday to claim the 152nd Kentucky Derby, and in doing so handed trainer Cherie DeVaux a distinction that had eluded every woman in the sport's long history: a Derby victory. The win came as an upset, with Golden Tempo besting the favored Renegade in a race that had been shaped by late scratches and unusually cold weather.
The path to post time was chaotic. The field began the day at nineteen horses after The Puma was scratched early Saturday morning due to a skin infection, a withdrawal that came too late for a replacement to be added. Three other horses—Silent Tactic, Fulleffort, and Right to Party—were scratched over the preceding four days, though Great White, Ocelli, and Robusta were brought in to fill those spots. Then, just before the race was set to begin, Great White was scratched after flipping over while being loaded into the starting gate, leaving the field at eighteen runners.
The conditions at the track stood in sharp contrast to the previous year's Derby, when Sovereignty had finished covered in mud after heavy rain soaked Churchill Downs. This year, the surface was fast and the visibility clear, with only light precipitation in the hour before the race began. Yet the weather carried an unusual chill. At fifty-four degrees an hour before post time, the temperature was roughly twenty degrees below the historical average high for Louisville in early May. The National Weather Service records showed that the coldest Derby Day on record occurred twice—on May 4, 1940, and May 4, 1957—when temperatures dropped to thirty-six degrees and were accompanied by winds of twenty to twenty-five miles per hour, making Saturday's conditions cool but not historically extreme.
DeVaux's victory represents a watershed moment for women in thoroughbred racing, a sport where the trainer's box has been dominated by men since the Derby's inception in 1875. Her success with Golden Tempo breaks through a barrier that had held firm across more than a century and a half of racing history. The upset nature of the win—Golden Tempo defeating the favored Renegade—adds another layer to the achievement, suggesting that DeVaux's horse was not simply competitive but genuinely superior on the day that mattered most.
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
What made this particular Derby different from others in recent memory?
The scratches, mainly. You had horses coming out right up until post time—The Puma with an infection, then Great White flipping in the gate. That kind of chaos can reshape a race, change the dynamics of who's running and who's sitting back.
And the weather—it was notably cold?
Fifty-four degrees, which is strange for early May in Louisville. Not record-breaking, but enough that you notice it. The horses feel it, the track feels it. Last year was a mud bath; this year was crisp and fast.
Why does Cherie DeVaux's win matter beyond the obvious?
Because it's been 151 Derbies without a woman in the winner's circle as a trainer. That's not accident. It's a closed door that finally opened. And she did it by upsetting the favorite, which means it wasn't sympathy or circumstance—her horse was the best that day.
Does a female trainer face different pressures than a male trainer would?
That's the unspoken question, isn't it? Every decision she makes gets scrutinized differently. But Saturday, none of that mattered. The horse ran, and she trained it right.
What happens next for her?
She's now in the conversation for the Triple Crown. Two more races stand between her and immortality.