Just as she did five weeks ago at Churchill Downs, trainer Cherie DeVaux held court at her barn, standing among a gaggle of photographers and reporters the morning after a Triple Crown race victory with Golden Tempo (Curlin). This time around, she brought the Kentucky Derby-winning colt out of his stall at Saratoga Race Course’s Oklahoma training track to pose with his blanket of carnations – which he attempted to snack on – that he earned for his win under Jose Ortiz in the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday at the Spa.
“From the Derby, he was showing all the signs of a lot of physical and mental improvement, and that was apparent on the racetrack,” DeVaux said. “We were really looking forward to seeing how that was going to translate, and when he broke and was closer to the field, he probably would have been with the pack if Jose didn’t need to save ground around the first turn. What we’re looking for in those markers definitely came to fruition out on the racetrack.”
A Kentucky homebred for Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, Golden Tempo became the 13th horse to land the Derby/Belmont Stakes double with a similar last-to-first trip on the First Saturday in May, but he laid closer to the field in the Belmont after breaking outward from the outermost post 9 and angling in for the run into the first turn. A patient Ortiz watched from the rear of the field as Powershift marked splits of 23.96 seconds, 48.29 and 1:12.38 over the fast course, which held some moisture after a rainstorm doused the area a few minutes before the race.
Ortiz got to work approaching the mile call and went wide along with Commandment to his outside and Renegade to his inside to make it six across the track at the head of the lane. Chief Wallabee stuck his head in front briefly at the top of the stretch, but Commandment and Golden Tempo were closing resolutely down the center of the course and Renegade made his move to their inside.
The three colts gave their all, but Golden Tempo proved superior between his rivals, drawing off from Derby runner-up Renegade and fending off Commandment to score by 1 1/4 lengths over the latter in a final time of 2:03.49. The effort earned a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure.
DeVaux said the effort was evidence of another step forward for the son of Curlin, who won the Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds Race Course ahead of Grade 2 thirds in the Risen Star in February and Louisiana Derby in March.
“I think he’s still improving. He’s improving incrementally, which is good, because he’s not really just throwing out a big race, but I think he’s going to continue to improve throughout his 3-year-old year,” DeVaux said.
“Right now, he’s [at] the top, but it’s still fairly early in the 3-year-old division,” she added. “A lot of them have a lot of maturing to do, and we’ll see a lot of horses that are exciting from now until [the end of the year]. We’re right at the halfway mark in the year, but there’s a lot that can still happen.”
For DeVaux, the past five weeks have seen her thrust into the national spotlight as the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner. While she is grateful for all that she has accomplished in that short span, she said a return to normalcy – at least until Golden Tempo’s next appearance in the afternoon – is welcome.
“It’s been really fun, but [not] unlike the Derby when I said I just wanted to go back to my regular life after, and we went and had a busy five weeks,” she said. “I do have to get back to the business of training horses and we’ve got a lot of 2-year-olds that came in. I land tonight [in Kentucky] and I’ll be driving at 3AM to Ellis Park tomorrow.”
That next afternoon appearance for Golden Tempo is likely the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun on August 1 at the Spa, the traditional local prep for the Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers on August 29. Golden Tempo is expected to prep for the former at his base of Keeneland.
“He’s going to go back to Keeneland tomorrow and we’re probably going to prep for the Jim Dandy there and then we’ll keep him up here for the Travers,” DeVaux said. “He prepped for all his races at Keeneland, and he’ll be coming off of a bit of a layoff into the Jim Dandy, so you want to keep the track that he’s had the most success [training] at. Then we go from the Jim Dandy to the Travers, it’s just going to be maintenance works. It’s a little bit easier on him, and we try to take out as many unknowns as we can. We’ll just follow what’s worked so far.”
Shortly after bringing out Golden Tempo for the media, DeVaux ventured over to the adjacent stall to do the same with Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun-winner Englishman, who earned a 115 Beyer for his 5 3/4-length trouncing of the seven-furlong sprint for sophomores.
The win, which made Saturday a special day for the barn even before Golden Tempo’s Belmont triumph, came on the heels of a pacesetting second to returning foe Crude Velocity in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on May 2 at Churchill Downs. The son of Maxfield had no trouble handling his familiar rival in the Woody Stephens, drawing clear of him in the lane for the win in a final time of 1:20.40, equaling the track record of 1:20 2/5 set by Darby Creek Road in 1978 when times were clocked only in fifths instead of hundredths.
“I’m not surprised that he ran so well,” DeVaux said. “I mean, you’re not expecting him to equal a track record, but he’s a horse that’s always had a ton of ability. He’s just naturally fast, and the Pat Day Mile was his first time really being challenged. I’m just glad to see that after that, he came and moved forward. He had an excuse to kind of regress, and he didn’t.”
With his name now among the top sprinters in the country, regardless of age, C R K Stable’s talented colt will target the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 29 here, with an eye to the Breeders’ Cup in October at Keeneland. DeVaux noted she is unsure if or where Englishman will have another start before the Jerkens.
“The main goal is the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, I think he’s one of the top horses – even though he’s three – sprinting in the country,” she said.
And while Golden Tempo and Englishman are the stars of the DeVaux barn, the conditioner made it clear that her love and respect for the horses runs through the entire roster of around 120 trainees.
“Having horses that run on Saturday afternoons the way the two did yesterday is what makes your career. We do this every day and have a stable full of horses, and we give the attention to those as we do with these two, but going out there and them winning on the big days, that’s what we work for when we go to the sales, and all the hard hours before they even come into my barn,” she said. “The buying, the breeding, the breaking process, all of that. We put a lot of work into it, and it means a lot when it comes to fruition, but we’re very much trying to do that with every horse, and they don’t have to be a top horse. It can be a claiming horse – we’re just trying to make them the best that they can be.”
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