5/6/2026

(All Pictures from NBC replay on YouTube)

Golden Tempo stunned the massive Churchill Downs crowd with a huge last to first run to win the 152nd Kentucky Derby giving trainer Cherie DeVaux the first Derby Championship to a female trainer. DeVaux announced on X or twitter, that she will not be the first female trainer to win a triple crown. CeVaux and the owners have decided to skip the Preakness and focus on the Belmont.

Here is the official statement from Cherie DeVaux:

“After much thoughtful discussion as a team, we have decided that Golden Tempo will bypass the Preakness Stakes,” Cherie DeVaux Racing said in a statement.

“Golden gave us the race of a lifetime in the Kentucky Derby, and we believe the best decision for him moving forward is to give him a little more time following such a tremendous effort. His health, happiness, and long-term future will always remain our top priority.

“We are looking forward to point him toward the Belmont Stakes and are excited for what lies ahead with this very special horse.

“Thank you again to everyone who has supported and believed in this journey alongside us.”

DeVaux didn’t get into the particulars but we can assume or guess that there were several reasons not to try the Preakness. The first one seems to be the most obvious and that the Preakness is the shortest distance of the 3 triple crown races at 1 3/16 of a mile. A 16th shorter than the 1 1/4 Derby and much shorter than the 1 1/2 mile Belmont.

Golden Tempo needed every inch of the 1 1/4 miles of the Derby to get by Renegade to win so with the shorter race that has to be a concern if he can generate that big run again with less distance to work with., 

Then consider it’s only 2 weeks after the Derby so running back that quickly is a concern. Even if he did win then what looks like a race made for him the 1 1/2 mile Belmont he would have to attack just 3 weeks later. 

The flip side is how many times are y9ou ever going to get to make such a decision? But it seems that DeVaux and the owners sided with what’s best for this horse and likely feel they have a great chance to win the Belmont in 5 weeks.

This is the 2nd year in a row that the Derby winner is skipping the Preakness as Sovereignty did not run last year and did end up winning the Belmont. The decision is much to the chagrin of many fans who want to see and now somewhat expect to see more triple crown winners.

There has been much talk of shuffling the 3 races to make them more friendly to having horses run in all 3 races. But is recent memory, is the era of television and video making it appear that this extremely difficult task is easier than it truly is?

The History of the Triple Crown

The first winner of the his 3 race series was in 1919 when Sir Barton won it. This was 45 years after the first Kentucky Derby was run. Not saying there was always a triple crown but this series clearly did not begin as a “thing”. 

In fact, the triple crown as we know it today wasn’t formalized until 1950. The trophy was awarded to all previous winners as well as those after 1950.

The next winner would have to wait 11 years when in 1930 Gallant Fox was the 2nd to do it. The 1930 race then kicked off a big run of triple crown winners with a total of 6 triple crowns winners from 1930 to 1948. In 1935, Omaha won it followed by War Admiral in 1937, Whirlaway in 1941, Count Fleet in 1943, Assault in 1946 and the great Citation in 1948.

It would then be a quarter of a century until the GOAT Secretariat lit up up the Horse Racing world in 1973. His performances are still records today in all 3 races and his story and wins took the country by storm. This ignited the golden years of racing in the 70’s. 

The big names and performances weren’t done yet with Seattle Slew in 1977 and the famed duel between Affirmed and Alydar where Affirmed won all 3 races by a combined total of less than 2 lengths. Affirmed won the Derby by 1 1/2, the Preakness by a neck and the Belmont by a head.

The 70’s spoiled racing fans not only with 3 triple crown champions but 3 truly different Champions. 

Many people forget it took 25 years before Secretariat came along. Well the next dry spell was about to hit and be much longer than the 25 year drought from 48-73. It would be 37 years before American Pharoah would be the 12th triple crown winner. Justify then won it in 2018 and that is where we stand today. 13 times since 1919 or 107 attempts since the 1st winner. That’s a 12% rate.

The triple crown is meant to be difficult and clearly it is not for every horse. It takes an incredible animal to pull off one of the rarest feats in all of sports. It has survived 25 year and 37 year droughts. Maybe it will be ok if Golden Tempo doesn’t run in the Preakness.

Found this on YouTube a great 4 minute history of Secretariat narrated by Telly Savalas onm a sports show hosted by Joe Theisman from 1983

www.elisportsnetwork.com