Cherie DeVaux's Kentucky Derby hero Golden Tempo silences the doubters by following up in Belmont Stakes

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Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo completed a second victory in the US Triple Crown series after making up a huge amount of ground to land the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.

Jose Ortiz's mount, trained by Cherie DeVaux, finished to great effect to score by a length and a quarter from Wathnan Racing's Commandment, with Renegade, who Golden Tempo beat by a neck at Churchill Downs last month, four lengths back in third.

DeVaux last month created history when becoming the first woman to train the winner of the Kentucky Derby. 

Connections decided to bypass the Preakness Stakes, won by Napoleon Solo two weeks later, but now DeVaux has become the first woman to win two Triple Crown races, and the second to land the Belmont after Jena Antonucci's victory with Arcangelo in 2023.

DeVaux said: "I do think we made the right decision. I don't think we would have the same horse if we had run back in two weeks. It's a horse-by-horse, case-by-case decision. And for him, with as much growth as we've seen in him, it would have been hard for him to follow that up in two weeks, and subsequently three weeks.

"I think there were doubts [about him] because Renegade ran so well and he had trouble. So, there were thoughts that Renegade could have won the Derby, but they have been put to bed."

It was a first victory in the Belmont for Vinnie and Teresa Viola of St Elias Stable, who own Golden Tempo with Phipps Stable.

Daisy Phipps Pulito, who is in charge of day-to-day operations at the latter outfit, said: "These are the races that you want to win when you're a kid growing up who loves horseracing. 

"For my great-grandmother, grandfather and father, when they would mate their horses, they would ask, 'Is this the one that is going to win the Derby, or the Preakness, or the Belmont?' These are the ones you target and, if you're lucky enough to win them, they're life-changing."

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