Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo is not running in the Preakness

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Associated Press, via WTOP

Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo is not running in the Preakness
The Associated Press

May 6, 2026, 3:46 PM


Golden Tempo (19) ridden by Jose L. Ortiz wins the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs, Saturday, May 2, 2026, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)(AP/Jeff Roberson)

Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will not run in the Preakness Stakes next weekend, trainer Cherie DeVaux announced Wednesday. ... DeVaux and owners decided to skip the Preakness and set their sights on the Belmont Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. DeVaux, who became the first woman to train a Derby winner, is from Saratoga Springs, which is hosting the Belmont for a third and final time this year.

"We are incredibly appreciative of the excitement and support surrounding the possibility of a Triple Crown run," DeVaux 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."

Golden Tempo is the third Derby winner in the past five years not to be entered in the Preakness. For various reasons, it is the sixth time in eight years the Preakness will happen with no chance of a Triple Crown on the line. American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018 are the only horses to sweep all three races over the past four decades.

The two-week turnaround from the Derby to the Preakness, which used to be commonplace, is considered a nonstarter for many trainers and owners given that most elite thoroughbreds now typically go a month or more between races. It has caused endless debate in horse racing circles about the spacing of the Triple Crown in modern times.

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Read more: https://wtop.com/sports/2026/05/kentucky-derby-winner-golden-tempo-is-not-running-in-the-preakness/

[twodogsbarking]

1. Y'all got the exclamation point upside down.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Can't type. Thanks.

By "type," I mean jab at a tablet.

And good evening.

[oasis]

3. Baaaaaaaaaagawk!!!🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓

[ananda]

4. Solution

Give the horses more time between races.

[jmowreader]

6. That would bring another factor into it

The Derby was May 2. If you scheduled the Preakness Stakes for June 6 and the Belmont Stakes for July 11 (exactly four weeks this year is July 4) you'd be asking thousand-pound animals covered in hair to run 10 to 12 furlongs (when the race is at Belmont Park it's 12 furlongs, but this year it's at the shorter Saratoga Race Course because they're renovating Belmont Park) in extreme heat.

Which is worse? Running three races in one month's time, or racing in a New York City July?

[Bibliovore]

8. There's always earlier, at least in theory

The Kentucky Derby is at Churchill Downs in Louisville, which I think generally has its first races of the year in late April (this year it was a week before the Derby; I don't know how usual that is). April weather there averages in the 60s at the start of the month and the 70s by the end; this year's Derby Day had a high of 56, and two years ago it was 83. Weather can never be guaranteed, of course, but the Derby could likely safely back up two or three weeks, and the Preakness one, to leave better windows between the races.

Getting the racing world to agree to that might be another matter. Beyond the tracks' likely unwillingness to change their historic calendars, though they'd likely prefer that to better-timed races supplanting the Triple Crown, backing them up would mean slightly younger horses with less training time (the incredible Man o' War was not run in the Derby because his owner felt strongly that "a soft-boned 3-year-old should not have to run 1¼ miles in early May" ), and date changes would also mess with what are considered the usual "prep races" for the Derby, themselves as historically scheduled as the crown's three.

[Bayard]

5. "His health, happiness and long-term future will always remain our top priority."

I like this statement a lot. Trainer and owner don't see this horse as just a money-making machine.

It would be much better to have a month between the 3 races. At the same time, if a horse has been peaked for one particular race, he may not be in the same shape again in a month. Like any elite runner, they can't stay at the top of their form constantly. A few weeks can make a difference.

[jeffreyi]

7. Those horses are babies.

There are way too many injuries, some mortal, on the track and in training, which starts when they are really immature. They need to be at least a year older. I refuse to watch, not liking the possibility of witnessing a young horse snap a bone.

[Bayard]

9. You're right

They are 3 year olds, meaning they were backed at 2 years. Horses keep growing until they are 5 or 6, and their joints may not be fully closed until then.
I go through this mental war every year of wishing they would give them at least another year or two to mature, and feeling the tradition deep in my bones as a Kentucky girl.