I’ve been “horse crazy” since I was a very little girl. But with the exception of the Triple Crown races, I don’t watch the races on tv anymore. My heart’s been broken several times, seeing beautiful horses injured during races and put down. Eight Belles and Barbaro, for example. Before that I did watch Secretariat win the Belmont by 31 lengths, but rarely has a race been that exciting. Until yesterday.
It was the Kentucky Derby, after all, so I tuned in not long before the race. I’d heard Renegade was the favorite, and looked for him. Or any gray horse. I tend to favor the grays, for whatever reason. But as they were loading the horses into the gates, the gray, Great White, reared and fell over backward. He was uninjured, but officials took him out of the race, just to be safe.
At some point someone mentioned that one of the horses had been trained by a woman, Cherie DeVaux, and that no woman had ever trained a Derby winner. I decided right then to root for her horse, Golden Tempo. I wasn’t very optimistic when I saw he was assigned to gate 19, but I was committed.
The race started and I didn’t see him. He was running dead last in a large field. I started looking for black silks with a red helmet. Finally picked him out but he was still dead last, not even visible at times. Not until the horses were at the head of the stretch did I spot him again, still way back, but moving. He went to the far outside, way outside. And again, not even in some of the camera shots. And then there he was, closing fast on the leaders, running head to head with Renegade. And as they crossed the finish line, he had pulled ahead.
Emotional old woman here. I was in tears off and on through the whole thing. Not until later did I hear that as they crossed the finish line, Golden Tempo’s jockey, Jose Ortiz, reached over to fist bump the jockey on the number two finisher. It was his older brother, Irad Ortiz Jr, riding Renegade.
So many moments to remember in this very memorable Kentucky Derby.
With this race to cherish, I should perhaps stop now and never watch another.
Unless, of course, Golden Tempo tries for the Triple Crown.
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[May 7, 2026 — It was announced yesterday that Golden Tempo will not be running in the Preakness Stakes on May 16 but is targeting the June 6 Belmont Stakes.]
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The featured image is a screenshot from the video. Golden Tempo was so far behind at this point early in the race that, depending on your device, he is not even visible in this image.
That was a pretty amazing finish by both brothers, eh ? – they came out of seemingly nowhere.
I used to love the races when I was young, and would drive my father’s car to get to Perth’s Ascot track on Saturday afternoons. I hope that trainer goes on in leaps and bounds in your VERY patriarchal society. 🙂
(I think I see that your jockeys are allowed to whip their mounts – obviously, not much ! It’s probably called “just a touch”. :)
I had to look up info about the whips/crops. The rules are ridiculously complex. I can’t imagine how anyone can observe and rule on such use by every jockey during a race. Horse racing is often a dirty business behind the scenes (drugs, cruel training methods, etc.), another reason to not watch or support the sport. For those not given to clicking on and reading links, here’s a bit from several pages of rules:
(a) A Jockey or exercise rider who uses a crop during a Race or Workout shall do so only in a professional manner consistent with maintaining focus and concentration of the Horse for safety of Horses and riders, or for encouragement to achieve optimal performance.
(b) A rider may:
(1) Use the crop on the hindquarters to activate and focus the Horse a maximum of 6 times during a race. The 6 permitted uses shall be in increments of 2 or fewer strikes. The rider must allow at least 2 strides for the Horse to respond before using the crop again.
(2) Tap the Horse on the shoulder with the crop while both hands are holding on to the reins and both hands are touching the neck of the Horse.
(3) Show or wave the crop to the Horse without physically contacting the Horse.
Somewhere in my browsing I read that a jockey had been disciplined for using his whip 8 times instead of 6.
here’s to the women
Absolutely!!
I was impressed by Golden Tempo, more so when they re-ran the video showing the horse at the back of the pack and just hoofing it through the other horses into the lead (and win). I thought I heard that Golden Tempo did the same thing in his previous race. Impressive, and he’s the one to watch for the next race. I’m sure I am not alone in this. That the horse was trained by a woman, fantastic!! ~Nan
Oh I hope that’s not his normal style, hanging in the rear for so long! I look forward to seeing him again and will certainly be rooting for him but don’t know if I can take another finish like that.