As Golden Tempo stormed from last place to win the Kentucky Derby in stunning fashion, he took trainer Cherie DeVaux along for a ride into history.
DeVaux, 44, became the first woman to train the winning horse in the Kentucky Derby when Golden Tempo passed favorite Renegade right near the finish and won the Triple Crown race on May 2.
She spoke with Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin and Carson Daly about the magical moment in an exclusive interview on TODAY May 4.
"I consider myself a horse trainer, and I just happen to be a female," she said when asked if she considers herself a trailblazer.
"It’s quite an honor to be the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby," she added.
DeVaux became just the second woman to train a horse that won a Triple Crown race. Jena Antonucci broke that barrier when her horse Arcangelo won the 2023 Belmont Stakes.
The DeVaux family could be seen celebrating on the broadcast as veteran jockey Jose Ortiz guided the 23-1 longshot horse to victory.
"It’s gotten a bit tapered down as I’ve gotten older," DeVaux said of her exuberant reaction. "That is not tapered down, that is definitely all systems go. If you win the Kentucky Derby, man — male, female, whatever, you should have a reaction."
In riding Golden Tempo to the thrilling victory, Ortiz edged out his own brother, fellow jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who was aboard Renegade.
"The credit for winning the race definitely goes to Jose because he had to time that perfectly," DeVaux said. "And he had all of the faith in the horse that he had it."
DeVaux also described how Golden Tempo was able to make up so much ground after being in last place at one point during the two-minute race.
"So Golden Tempo is what we call a deep closer, so he is out the back," DeVaux said. "He just doesn't have a lot of speed, but he has a lot of stamina, and towards the end of the race, he does have, we call it a quick turn of foot, so he can make up a lot of ground.
"But just in the early stages, he likes to just hang out behind and let them all do the hard work, and then he can just finish up and beat them all," she explained.
Fresh off the historic victory, the next question is whether Golden Tempo will run in the second leg of horseracing's Triple Crown. The next race is the Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park in Maryland on May 16, which will be broadcast live on NBC and streamed on Peacock.
"We’ll have to see how he comes out of the race," DeVaux said in reference to the Kentucky Derby. "He gets a couple easy days. He's probably snoozing right now. We’ll try to make a decision by the end of the week."
In a separate interview on the third hour of TODAY, the trainer expanded on the thought process behind whether Golden Tempo will compete in the Preakness.
"It's up to the horse," she said. "That's the first part. The horse comes first in any conversation so he needs to be back, healthy, jumping up and down, feeling his oats."
"He has to be sound, which you know, jogging up, making sure there's no ailments, no little injury we're missing, and then we'll discuss as a group what is best for him," she added.
There could also be a potential homecoming for DeVaux if Golden Tempo competes in the third of the Triple Crown races, the Belmont Stakes in Saratoga Springs, New York. DeVaux was born in Saratoga and grew up there before her family moved to southwest Florida.
She attended Florida Gulf Coast University for two years and then transferred to SUNY-Albany after her family moved back to New York. DeVaux was initially a pre-med student before working with racehorses as a summer job in college got her hooked for good.
She started as a stable worker for late trainer Chuck Simon before becoming an assistant trainer at a barn under Chad Brown. In 2018, she launched her own stable and works as its head trainer.
DeVaux credits her husband, David Ingordo, with supporting her as she struck out on her own. Ingordo also works in the industry as a bloodstock agent, a person horse owners hire to evaluate thoroughbreds they may want to buy or sell.
She said she initially had no interest in moving beyond the assistant trainer level.
"After an hour of chatting, I said, 'Well, you better go take some therapy classes, psychology classes because you’re going to have to be my biggest therapist,'" DeVaux said she told her husband.
She won her first race 11 months later and had her first horse win a title at the prestigious Breeders' Cup in 2024. Now she's looking to become the first female trainer to guide a horse to two victories of the Triple Crown.
