Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo considered for Preakness at Laurel Park

Golden Tempo’s Kentucky Derby victory has given the Preakness Stakes a possibility it badly needs: a Derby winner that could make the middle leg feel essential again. Cherie DeVaux said the colt’s run at Laurel Park is “on the table,” but she will wait to see how Golden Tempo comes out of the Derby before deciding whether to ship him to Maryland.

If Golden Tempo starts, the 151st Preakness on Saturday, May 16, will arrive with a clear focal point, not just a reshuffled schedule. Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore is closed for reconstruction, forcing the race to Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland, for the first time. The draw is set for Monday, May 11, and the field will be capped at 14 starters, a smaller stage than the broad list of possibles now under consideration.

Golden Tempo earned his place in the conversation with a Derby performance that sharpened the value of the Preakness itself. At Churchill Downs in Louisville, the colt won at 23-1 odds, rallied from near the back of the field, and held off Renegade, with Ocelli third. Jose Ortiz rode Golden Tempo to a 2:02.27 final time for 1 1/4 miles, while Irad Ortiz Jr. was aboard runner-up Renegade. The $48.24 payoff reflected the size of the upset. The victory also made DeVaux the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby.

The broader question now is whether Laurel can make this Preakness feel like more than a temporary relocation. Laurel Park has approval to conduct 120 days of live racing in 2026, and it will also host the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday, May 15, the day before the Preakness. That puts the Maryland Jockey Club track at the center of a significant stretch in the racing calendar, with the Preakness serving as the main event and the Black-Eyed Susan adding to the weekend’s profile.

Interest is already building around the race through the Preakness Future Win Wager, whose field and morning-line odds were announced on April 22 and which opened April 24 with a maximum of 40 betting interests. For a race that has spent years trying to preserve its place in the Triple Crown sequence, Golden Tempo’s decision may matter as much as the result on the track. A Derby winner at Laurel would not solve every issue around the Preakness, but it would give the race the kind of urgency that has defined its strongest runnings.