Tag: history

Kentucky Derby Contender Golden Tempo Carries on the Phipps Legacy

May 2nd, 2026
By B. Jason Brooks

After kicking off his promising career and progressing well over the winter and spring, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable’s homebred Golden Tempo is in primed for his grade 1 debut among racing’s most elite in the 152nd Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 2nd.

In his four career starts, all at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans with jockey Jose L. Ortiz aboard, Golden Tempo has demonstrated a strong ability as a closer. This has occurred while progressively stretching out in distance and increasing his Beyer speed figures while winning or placing in all of his races.

(Photo: Trainer Cherie DeVaux and Golden Tempo at Keeneland, April 2026)

Golden Tempo won his December 20th career debut going six furlongs, hitting the stretch in fourth-place before blazing home to win by a length and a half with a Beyer of 78. He came back on January 17th for the 1 ¹⁄₁₆-mile Lecomte Stakes (G3), impressively inhaling the field in the stretch to win by three-quarters of a length with a Beyer of 81. Stepping up in class and stretching out for the 1 ⅛-mile Risen Star Stakes (G2) on February 14th, he hit the top of the stretch in fifth-place and continued advancing, finishing third behind winner Paladin and runner-up Chip Honcho, earning an 84 Beyer. And, most recently in the 1 ³⁄₁₆-mile Louisiana Derby (G2) on March 21st, he advanced in the far turn to third and chased dueling Emerging Market and Pavlovian to the wire, taking show honors with an 88 Beyer.

Despite the third-place showing in the Louisiana Derby, Golden Tempo’s fractions show select hallmarks of the top Kentucky Derby contenders. In examining the need for speed and stamina to win the Derby, racing analyst Dick Downey wrote in his recent BloodHorse story (here) that 8 of 10 recent Derby winners “ran within one second of averaging :12 [seconds] per furlong during at least four of the five calls of their final Derby prep” and that “all but one of those eight finished the last 3 furlongs of their respective final preps in the well-known :38 [seconds] or less.” Downey goes on to highlight that Golden Tempo is one of only four Derby entries (after the scratch of Fulleffort) meeting the criteria. According to Downey, in the Louisiana Derby, Golden Tempo put up “four 12s of the first five calls” and went “from the 6 ½ furlong marker to the finish line” in 37.19 seconds. This angle shines a light on Golden Tempo’s closing speed that will serve him well in the “Run for the Roses”.

Following the Louisiana Derby, Golden Tempo shipped to Keeneland where he has been thriving. Trainer Cherie DeVaux recently stated, “He has matured both physically and mentally a lot… He was always a heavier horse and took a while for him to really shape up physically, and we’re there now. He has really improved in that respect.”

Golden Tempo’s recent Keeneland workouts demonstrate his continued progress, breezing five furlongs on April 10th in 1:00.8 (the third-fastest of 20), and four furlongs on April 17th in :47.0 (the second-fastest of 58).

Given the potential for an early hot pace, Golden Tempo breaking from the outside, and his running style of settling off the pace early on and closing like a freight train, he may be on the cusp of experiencing Kentucky Derby glory.

Significance in History

A Golden Tempo victory in the Kentucky Derby would be groundbreaking for multiple reasons. First, his trainer Cherie DeVaux would become the first woman to condition a Kentucky Derby winner. Second, although he has won the classic Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, it would be the first Kentucky Derby win for Eclipse Award-winning jockey Jose Ortiz. And third, despite Curlin being an all-time great sire, Golden Tempo would be his first Kentucky Derby winner.

Since entering Thoroughbred racing and breeding in 1926, each successive generation of the Phipps family has won a Triple Crown race. Starting with Gladys Mills Phipps’s Wheatley Stable colt Bold Ruler, by Nasrullah (IRE), in the 1957 Preakness Stakes, followed by Ogden Phipps’ colt Easy Goer, by Alydar, in the 1989 Belmont Stakes, and, most recently, Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps and family’s Phipps Stable colt Orb, by Malibu Moon, in the 2013 Kentucky Derby (bred and owned in partnership with Stuart S. Janney III, Dinny’s cousin). Bold Ruler was trained by James E. “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons and Easy Goer and Orb by Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey, both Hall of Fame trainers.

(Photo: Ogden Phipps, Bull Hancock and Dinny Phipps, 1966. Keeneland Library/Morgan Photographic Collection)

Over the last century, the Phippses have bred more than 300 stakes winners, 29 champions, and 8 Hall of Famers, including Seabiscuit, Bold Ruler, Buckpasser, Easy Goer, Personal Ensign, Heavenly Prize, Inside Information, and Searching.

Today, Phipps Stable has 17 horses in training and a broodmare band of around 20 mares. They continue their winning ways, with more than a dozen stakes wins over the last five years. In addition to Golden Tempo, their recent top performers include the following:
- Pentathlon, by Speightstown, winner of the 2026 Army Mule Stakes. He is owned in partnership by Phipps Stable, St. Elias Stable, and Woodford Racing;
- Signator, by Tapit, winner of the 2025 Henry S. Clark Stakes. His owner partnership included West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Racing, Gainesway, Ken Langone, Lynne and Edward Hudson Jr., and Lane’s End.
- Surprisingly, by Mastery, winner of the 2023 Endeavour Stakes (G3);
- Perform, by Good Magic, winner of the 2023 Federico Tesio Stakes and a Preakness Stakes (G1) contender that year. Phipps Stable owned him in partnership with Woodford Racing, Lane’s End, Ken Langone, and Lynne and Edward Hudson Jr.;
- Dynamic One, by Union Rags, winner of the 2022 Suburban Stakes (G2) and a 2021 Kentucky Derby (G1) contender. Phipps Stable owned him in partnership with Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable;
- Vigilantes Way, by Medaglia d’Oro, winner of the 2021 Eatontown Stakes (G3); and,
- Performer, by Speightstown, winner of the 2019 Discovery Stakes (G3) and 2021 Fred W. Hooper Stakes (G3), as well as placed in the 2020 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1). He was co-owned with Claiborne Farm.
Seeing the legendary black and cherry Phipps silks in the 2026 Kentucky Derby winners’ circle would be a fitting accomplishment following the family’s century of excellence in Thoroughbred racing and breeding.

B. Jason Brooks is a Thoroughbred racing and pedigree researcher, writer, and social media manager residing in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Mare Monday: Fly So High

September 29th, 2025

A Graded Stakes Winner from the Elite Family of Gun Runner

A rare sales purchase for Phipps Stable, Fly So High was bred in Kentucky by the Goodman family’s Mt. Brilliant Farm and acquired from the Lane’s End Farm consignment at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Fly So High finished third in her October 2017 career debut and came back the following month to impressively break her maiden, winning the one mile dirt race at Aqueduct by 7 ¾ lengths to earn “Rising Star” status from the Thoroughbred Daily News.

She followed up her maiden win with another eye-catching victory in January 2018, cruising to a 5 ½-length allowance optional claiming victory at Gulfstream Park.

Showing significant promise, she dove into deeper waters for the Davona Dale Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream in March, a race she won commandingly by 3 lengths but was pulled up after the race and vanned off the track. Ultrasound results revealed a small tear in an upper suspensory.

While she would have likely been one of the favorites for the 2018 Kentucky Oaks (G1) or potentially set her sights on the Breeders’ Cup that year, the injury instead ended her career and she joined the elite Phipps Stable broodmare band.

While an overwhelming majority of Phipps family’s horses have historically been homebreds, Daisy Phipps Pulito spoke here about why her family’s stable purchased Fly So High, noting that “[e]very few years, my father [Ogden ‘Dinny’ Phipps] and I would like to buy a couple of fillies to introduce some new blood to the broodmare band… I thought it was really important to continue to do that…”

Fly So High was a natural fit for the Phipps family, as she is by Malibu Moon, the same sire of the Phipps family’s 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb, and from one of the most attractive female families in the stud book.

Fly So High’s dam Quiet Flight, by Quiet American, is a full sister to grade 2-placed Quiet Dance, producer of Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1)-winning Horse of the Year Saint Liam, by Saint Ballado, and United Nations Stakes (G1) winner Funtastic, by More Than Ready, the latter now standing at Three Chimneys Farm.

Quiet Dance is also the granddam of Hall of Famer and another Three Chimneys Farm stallion in red-hot sire Gun Runner, by Candy Ride (Arg). She is also the granddam of Mother Goose Stakes (G1) winner Buster’s Ready, by More Than Ready, who was purchased as a broodmare prospect for $2.4 million by Wertheimer et Frère.

The granddam of Fly So High, Misty Dancer, by Lyphard, is a half-sister to Minstrella, by The Minstrel, an Edward P. Evans homebred who won three group 1 races in Europe and was a champion juvenile in Ireland.

The active family’s other recent notable stakes winners include Gun Runner’s half-sister Pretty Anna, by Quality Road, winner of the 2024 Comely Stakes (G3), and Right and True (Ire), by Arizona (Ire), winner of the listed 2024 Star Appeal Stakes in Ireland for the Coolmore partners.

Fly So High is the dam of three horses of racing age, including sophomore Curlin colt Peak Performer who recently moved forward by finishing on the board in a competitive $170,000 maiden special weight at Kentucky Downs earlier this month. She also has an unraced juvenile colt by Gun Runner and is currently in foal to WinStar Farm’s elite sire Constitution.

Tag: history

Kentucky Derby Contender Golden Tempo Carries on the Phipps Legacy

Mare Monday: Fly So High