Cherie DeVaux Targets 2026 Derby With Golden Tempo — Female Jockey Kentucky Derby Winners
Cherie DeVaux is trying to become the first female to train a Kentucky Derby winner with Golden Tempo at the 2026 Kentucky Derby, a bid built around her first start in the race on Saturday. The 152nd running now carries a direct line to a barrier that has never been broken, which is why female jockey kentucky derby winners remains such a loaded phrase in this sport.
DeVaux And Golden Tempo
DeVaux said, "I don’t really look at it as male versus female" and added, "I just try to do the best I can, but in the back of my mind, just to be a strong role model." She also said, "The only thing I want to do in my career is be the first female to win a Kentucky Derby."
Golden Tempo is the horse carrying that goal. DeVaux said, "This is our first Derby starter, and we’re one step closer."
A Derby Barrier
No female trainer has ever trained the Kentucky Derby winning horse, and the race has only ever been won by male trainers. That is the friction point inside this story: DeVaux is already a champion, and she has trained a winning Breeders' Cup horse, but the Derby has kept that last line closed.
She framed the path plainly: "Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there" and "You have to be willing to fail to be able to succeed." Those are not throwaway lines here. They are the language of a trainer trying to turn a first Derby start into the race’s first female-trained winner.
Secretariat's Family Tree
The Derby field also comes with a sharp wrinkle from the background notes attached to the race: Secretariat's family tree includes 663 kids and 19 horses in this Derby. That number is part of the larger setting around a race that still has never been won by a female trainer, even as DeVaux heads into her first chance at it.
For readers following the race through that lens, the immediate takeaway is simple. Golden Tempo gives DeVaux a real shot at a first that has eluded every female trainer before her, and the 2026 Derby will decide whether that barrier stays intact or finally falls.
