The 2026 Kentucky Derby is a storybook win for the Phipps family who are celebrating 100 years of success in Thoroughbred racing and breeding

by B. Jason Brooks

“First Lady of the Turf” Gladys Mills Phipps began the Phipps family’s Thoroughbred racing dynasty in 1926.  Her Wheatley Stable’s first winner came quickly, with James E. “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons-trained Sturdy Stella winning a quarter-mile dash on February 2nd of that year at Miami’s fabled Hialeah Park.  A century later, the Phippses remain U.S. racing royalty, winning the Kentucky Derby this past Saturday with homebred Golden Tempo – bred and owned in partnership with Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable.

As recently noted on this blog, the Phipps’s accomplishments over the last century are staggering, having bred more than 300 stakes winners, 7 Breeders’ Cup winners, 29 champions, and 8 Hall of Famers, including Seabiscuit, Searching, Bold Ruler, Buckpasser, Personal Ensign, Easy Goer, Inside Information, and Heavenly Prize.

Each successive generation has been a part of a homebred male classic winner, starting with Glady Mill Phipps’s Wheatley Stable colt Bold Ruler in the 1957 Preakness Stakes, Ogden Phipps’s Easy Goer in the 1989 Belmont Stakes, and Phipps Stable – led by family patriarch Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps – with Orb in the 2013 Kentucky Derby (bred and owned by the Phipps family in partnership with Dinny’s cousin Stuart S. Janney III, also a grandson of Glady Mills Phipps). Bold Ruler was trained by James E. “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons and Easy Goer and Orb were trained by Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey, both of whom are Hall of Famers. And, each of the Phipps family’s classic winners were born and raised at the Hancock family’s legendary Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky.

Since Dinny’s passing in 2016, breeding and racing has remained a family affair for the Phippses, with Daisy Phipps Pulito as their racing manager, supported by her siblings and their mother Ande.  Trained by Cherie DeVaux, Golden Tempo’s Kentucky Derby win represents a remarkable fourth successive generation leading the family stable to a victory in a Triple Crown race.

Besides their successful colts in Triple Crown races, the Phippses have won six of the two undisputed fillies classics: the Kentucky Oaks with Dispute in 1993 and the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) with Edelweiss in 1933, High Voltage in 1955, Christmas Past in the 1982, My Flag in the 1996, and Smuggler in 2005.  (This does not include 9 wins of the Acorn Stakes (G1), 6 wins of the Alabama Stakes (G1), 2 wins of the Mother Goose Stakes (G1), and 4 wins of the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2), each significant a race of which was considered a part of the New York or National “Triple Tiara” at some point.)

Adding to their success in the U.S., Ogden Phipps’s European stable won the St. Leger Stakes (G1), the final leg of the English Triple Crown, with Boucher in 1972 and the One Thousand Guineas, an English fillies classic, with Quick As Lightning in 1980.

In summary, Golden Tempo became the fourth Phipps colt to win a U.S. classic.  When adding six Phipps fillies who won the Kentucky Oaks or Coaching Club American Oaks, as well as two English classic winners, that’s an ultra-impressive dozen classic wins for the Phipps family!

While the family stable is not as large as it used to be when Ogden Phipps had 40 or more horses in training, Phipps Stable currently has 17 horses in training and a broodmare band that typically ranges from 15 to 20 mares. 

Their recent success has included more than a dozen stakes wins over the last five years (see a list of these stakes winners in the recent blog story “Kentucky Derby Contender Golden Tempo Carries on the Phipps Legacy”.) No stranger to recent Triple Crown races, they were represented by grade 2-winner Dynamic One in the 2021 Kentucky Derby (G1) and stakes winner Perform in the 2023 Preakness Stakes (G1), both co-owned in partnerships and finished off of the board in their classics.

The next step for Golden Tempo is still to be finalized.  His trainer Cherie DeVaux indicated on NBC’s TODAY Show on Monday that a final decision is expected by the end of the week on whether to point him to the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Laurel Park on May 16th or the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on June 6th.  Notably, Golden Tempo has the opportunity to become the Phipps family’s first horse to win multiple classics, an impressive feat when considering the greats noted above whom they have bred and raced.

THE PHIPPS FAMILY’s DOZEN CLASSIC WINNERS

Edelweiss – 1933 Coaching Club American Oaks
High Voltage – 1955 Coaching Club American Oaks
Bold Ruler – 1957 Preakness Stakes
Boucher – 1972 St. Leger Stakes (ENG)
Quick as Lightning – 1980 One Thousand Guineas (ENG)
Christmas Past – 1982 Coaching Club American Oaks
Easy Goer – 1989 Belmont Stakes
Dispute – 1993 Kentucky Oaks
My Flag – 1996 Coaching Club American Oaks
Smuggler – 2005 Coaching Club American Oaks
Orb – 2013 Kentucky Derby (with Stuart S. Janney III)
Golden Tempo – 2026 Kentucky Derby (with St. Elias Stable)

B. Jason Brooks (𝕏 at @bjbrooksNY) is a Thoroughbred racing and pedigree researcher, writer, and social media manager residing in Saratoga Springs, New York.

By B. Jason Brooks

Just four months after winning his career debut, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable’s homebred Golden Tempo can become a virtual lock for the Kentucky Derby by finishing among the top three in Saturday’s Louisiana Derby (G2).

With eight Derby prep races remaining in the U.S. between now and April 11th, the top-ranking 20 or so (after accounting for potential scratches) will have the opportunity to race for Derby glory.  Golden Tempo currently ranks 12th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 35 points.

Since the current Kentucky Derby points system was first implemented in 2023 in which the top five finishers in Derby prep races are awarded points towards a starting position, those with the fewest points in the starting gate were Baeza in 2023 with 37.5 points, Epic Ride in 2024 with 35 points, and Mandarin Hero and King Russell who both had 40 points in 2025. 

The top five finishers of the Louisiana Derby will receive 100, 50, 25, 15, and 10 points, so a strong showing for Golden Tempo would almost guarantee him a start in the Kentucky Derby.

In his three career starts so far, all at Fair Grounds with jockey Jose Ortiz aboard, a lack of early speed has left Golden Tempo with a lot of work to do in the stretch.  He was talented enough to close with the necessary speed to win his debut on December 20th and then again second time out on January 17th in the Lecomte Stakes (G3).  Given his running style and the way the track was playing for his third career start, he settled for third-place last time out on February 14th in the Risen Start Stakes (G2), finishing behind Paladin and Chip Honcho.

Looking to get Golden Tempo more focused early on, trainer Cherie DeVaux will add blinkers for the first time.  As stated in Ron Flatter’s Horse Racing Nation story posted (here) on Friday morning, DeVaux’s strategy is that “[w]ith the blinkers, we’re not trying to change his running style.  He’s a closer.  He’s effective being a closer, but we just want him more involved in the earlier stages of the race so that when he does make his run, he doesn’t have so much to do.”

Stretching out to a mile-and-three-sixteenths for the first time, Golden Tempo is expected to relish the longer distance based on his past performances and breeding.  As Alan Porter noted in his January 20th BloodHorse column (here), “In addition to Curlin’s qualifications as a classic sire, the distaff side of Golden Tempo’s pedigree also suggests that classic distances will be no problem for him.  His dam Carrumba is by Bernardini, a champion 3-year-old whose successes included the Preakness Stakes, Travers Stakes (G1), and Jockey Club Gold Cup.” (For more on Golden Tempo’s successful Phipps female family, see “Phipps and St. Elias’s Golden Tempo Shines in Debut; Declared a TDN Rising Star” on the Phipps Stable Fan blog.)

Saturday’s Louisiana Derby will be a strong indicator of Golden Tempo’s ability to succeed at classic distances, something that DeVaux takes very seriously.  In the Horse Racing Nation story, she stated that her Derby horses have to “have a good shot of having a good showing… I’m not the type of person that wants to just go to the Kentucky Derby for all the hoopla.”

Following stints that included six years with Chuck Simon and then eight with Chad Brown, Cherie DeVaux went out on her own as a trainer in 2018.  She earned her first graded win with Gam’s Mission in the 2021 Regret Stakes (G3) and her first top-tier victory with She Feels Pretty in the 2023 Natalma Stakes (G1).  In addition to She Feel Pretty adding four more grade 1 wins to her resume, DeVaux’s other elite winners have included Vahva in the 2024 Derby City Distaff (G1) and More Than Looks in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1).  Her career’s ascent is on track for its first Kentucky Derby starter with Golden Tempo.

Golden Tempo’s success has brough a lot of excitement for the Phipps family who are celebrating 100 years in U.S. Thoroughbred breeding and racing.  Having won the Preakness in 1957 with Bold Ruler, Belmont Stakes in 1989 with Easy Goer, and, finally, the Kentucky Derby in 2013 with Orb (co-bred and -owned with Dinny Phipps’s cousin Stuart S. Janney III), the timing of Golden Tempo’s success is a thrilling way to begin the start of a new century for the elite stable, this time with Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable sharing in the victories as co-breeders and co-owners.  (For more on the Phipps family’s century of success, see “Saratoga Yearlings From Phipps Families Average $1M+” in BloodHorse here.)

B. Jason Brooks is a Thoroughbred racing and pedigree researcher, writer, and social media manager residing in Saratoga Springs, New York.