Golden Tempo surges from last to first in Kentucky Derby upset
Golden Tempo, a 23-1 shot from post 19, swept from last to first to win the Derby by a neck, making Cherie DeVaux the first woman to train a winner.
Golden Tempo turned the 152nd Kentucky Derby into a finish-line shock, surging from last to first to win by a neck at Churchill Downs and paying off at 23-1. The Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable homebred covered 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.27 over a fast track, edging Renegade as 70-1 Ocelli held third and Chief Wallabee was fourth.
The colt’s path to the roses had already been marked by a sharp closing run. On Jan. 17 at Fair Grounds, Golden Tempo announced himself on the Road to the Kentucky Derby with a last-to-first victory in the Lecomte, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.98 under Jose Ortiz. That result earned him 20 points and hinted that his style could translate in a deep field, even after he drew post No. 19 for the Derby and had to navigate traffic from the outside.
The race itself was shaped by late scratches and by the presence of the full 20-horse gate, the largest Derby field permitted since 1975. Golden Tempo handled the chaos better than any of them. Ortiz saved ground early, waited for the field to sort itself out, then asked for a final surge that carried him past the leaders in the shadow of the wire. The win pushed Golden Tempo’s lifetime earnings to more than $3.4 million and gave Ortiz his first Derby victory, one day after he had already won the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
The bigger milestone belonged to Cherie DeVaux. With Golden Tempo’s victory, she became the first woman ever to train a Kentucky Derby winner, a barrier that had stood through generations of racing history at Churchill Downs. The Derby had long waited for that kind of breakthrough, even after Regret became the first filly to beat the boys in 1915. On Saturday, Golden Tempo delivered both the upset and the history, and he did it in the most dramatic way possible, from last to first in the sport’s most watched race.
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