Cherie DeVaux walked into the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs and rewrote the record books, becoming the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner in the race’s 152-year history. Her long-shot colt, Golden Tempo, closed from last to first at 23-1 odds, delivering a come-from-behind victory that turned a quiet career on the backside of Saratoga into a story that reached mainstream famous status almost overnight.
Biography Table
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Cherie DeVaux |
| Age | 44 |
| Nationality | American |
| Profession/Occupation | Thoroughbred horse trainer |
| Years Active | 2018–present |
| Education | Lemon Bay High School (2000–2002); Florida Gulf Coast University (pre-med) |
| Spouse/Partner | David Ingordo (Thoroughbred bloodstock agent) |
| Children | Stepdaughter, Reagan Ingordo |
| Parents | Butch DeVaux (father); Janet DeVaux (mother) |
| Siblings | Adrianne DeVaux (sister) |
| Notable Works | Golden Tempo (2026 Kentucky Derby winner); She Feels Pretty |
| Awards/Honors | First female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby (2026); honorary citizenship recognition tied to her Derby win |
Who Is Cherie DeVaux? Background And Path Into Training
Cherie DeVaux is a 44-year-old thoroughbred trainer who officially became an independent horse trainer in 2018, after eight years learning the trade as an assistant to Chad Brown at his Saratoga Springs operation. Her rise to the grandest stage in horse racing did not follow the path most people expect from a Kentucky Derby winner.
Long before she was pinning saddle towels in Barn 62, DeVaux was a pre-med student with a long history of quietly loving horses on the side. She has a colorful way of describing that crossroads in her career — a moment when medicine and the racetrack pulled her in opposite directions at once.
Her Southwest Florida connection runs through Englewood, where she grew up and graduated from Lemon Bay High School between 2000 and 2002, before continuing her studies at Florida Gulf Coast University. That hometown, hours from any major racetrack, seems an unlikely starting point for a trainer who would eventually make Kentucky Derby history.
Who Are Cherie DeVaux’s Parents?
DeVaux’s father, Butch DeVaux, trained Standardbred harness horses, giving her a genuine family history in the sport rather than a hobbyist’s introduction. Her mother, Janet DeVaux, is also part of that family background, and together they raised a household where horses were simply part of daily life, not a passing interest.
The Family Business
The DeVaux family business centered on Standardbred harness racing, not thoroughbreds, which makes Cherie’s later specialization something of a departure from her father’s racing careers. She and her siblings grew up around exercise riders, shed rows, and early wake-up times as a matter of course, long before any of them chose it as a career.
Operating On Faith
In the summer of 2017, DeVaux stood at a genuine crossroads: continue as a pre-med student planning to become a doctor, or bet on faith in herself and go all-in on racing. She had long been involved in racing on the side, but turning it into a career meant walking away from an advisor, an organic chemistry track, and a more conventional future.
She gravitated instead toward Chad Brown’s operation at Saratoga Race Course, an operation that has produced $32 million in earnings and trained horses that compete on America’s grandest stages. People close to her, including bloodstock advisor David Ingordo and trainer Chuck Simons, gave her three years to prove it could work — she needed far less time than that to show she belonged.
By 2018, she had earned her trainer’s license and stepped out as an independent trainer, a history-making point in a career that started, by her own account, as something she owed it to herself to try before choosing to go do something else entirely.
Cherie DeVaux’s Historic Kentucky Derby Win
Golden Tempo’s Kentucky Derby victory is now etched into the record book as one of the most dramatic in recent memory: a last-to-first charge that turned an 18-horse field, and the morning-line odds against her, upside down in the space of two minutes and two seconds.
A Run For History
Golden Tempo broke from the gate as far back as dead last, 11 horses behind the front-runners, with jockey Jose Ortiz showing patience while the early pace unfolded. Through the first three-quarters of the race, the colt sat far off the pack, weaving through traffic as the leaders began to tire.
On the final turn, Ortiz found room to operate along the right flank, guided the colt to the outside with no one blocking his path, and began a furious charge that closed multiple lengths in the final 220 yards. Golden Tempo timed it perfectly, passing the main chasing pack and crossing the finish line a neck ahead of the field, a margin confirmed by official measurement after a photo finish that had the crowd roaring.
It marked just the third lifetime start for the colt, and remarkably, his first start in a competitive field of this caliber after working out amazingly in the weeks leading into the first Saturday in May.
A Historic Win For DeVaux, Former FGCU Student With Florida Connection
At 23-1, Golden Tempo was nowhere close to the morning-line favorite, which only deepened the resounding storyline of a former Florida Gulf Coast University student turning a 23-1 long shot into Kentucky Derby history. Her final time of 2:02.27 stands alongside the era’s great runs, and her win eclipsed the previous closest a woman had come to victory — Shelley Riley, who finished second with Casual Lies in 1992.
Nineteen starters went to post that day, and DeVaux’s furious charge down the backstretch and through the final turn is now regarded as one of the wildest stretch drives in modern Derby coverage, discussed alongside the greatest just-won-the-Derby reactions in the sport’s history.
Not Exactly A One-And-Done
DeVaux has been careful to frame the win as a beginning rather than a peak achievement. She has spoken about wanting to do this again, about the enormous animals and the team behind them, and about carrying the honor of being representative of all women in a hard-scrabble industry that has long been shaped by men.
She has described feeling overwhelmed by the cameras and the adrenaline in the winner’s circle, admitting she nearly blacked out from the emotion, but also expressing quiet faith that her early wake-up times, backside apprenticeship, and belief that things will work out were never a one-time formula. Her own ideas about where the barn goes from here suggest plans that extend well past this single Kentucky Derby garland.
Reaction To Making Horse Racing History
The response to DeVaux’s win rippled well beyond the racetrack, pulling in commentators, former jockeys, and the broader sports media as the story of a first female trainer became racetrack famous and then mainstream famous within days.
Donna Brothers, a former jockey turned commentator, called DeVaux’s win one of the most real, unrestrained reactions she had covered in years of Derby coverage, noting how different it felt from a routine winner’s circle moment. NBC’s broadcast team, along with hosts on the Today show including Al Roker, picked up the story quickly, and DeVaux found herself doing interviews from Derby City to Yankee Stadium in the days that followed.
Breaking The Barn Ceiling
For DeVaux, the historic moment carries real weariness alongside its pride — she has said she is glad she does not have to answer the “how does it feel to be a female trainer” question the same way anymore, and that gender never crossed her mind while she was actually working the horse. Being measured by merit, rather than by being a pioneering element in the sport, is ultimately what she says she wants for the next generation of women in horse racing.
Even so, she has acknowledged the weight of it: being one of only a handful of women, alongside 17 other women who have saddled Derby starters since 2021, and knowing young girls are now watching a horse trainer who looks like them stand in that winner’s circle.
Cherie DeVaux’s Personality And Training Philosophy
Those who know DeVaux describe a secure, direct personality that does not fit in somebody’s box, and colleagues say she calls things out when she sees something wrong rather than staying quiet to keep the peace.
“I’m Not For Everyone”
DeVaux has been open about her own temperament, saying plainly that she is not for everyone and that she is not afraid of confrontation when it is warranted. She credits her siblings, and a childhood spent around a demanding family business, with teaching her to quiet herself in tense moments rather than react.
She has also been candid about her management style with staff, describing herself in a colorful way as someone who does not tolerate being pushed around and who sets clear boundaries in her shed row. That demanding perfectionism, she says, is what respectful, well-run barns require, even if it makes her a tougher boss than some expect.
The Horse – And Goat – Whisperer
Beyond her reputation for bluntness, DeVaux is known on the backside for an unusual gift: calming anxious horses, including Golden Tempo, using techniques that go beyond a standard training regimen. One of her horses, She Feels Pretty, is often cited as the filly whose breakthrough performance under DeVaux’s care first drew significant attention to her barn.
Her horses are sometimes paired with a companion pony or even a barn goat named Mickey to help manage anxiety, a low-tech but effective method that has become something of a signature once a horse joins her barn. It is a small, practical detail that says as much about her approach to training as any race result does.
Is Cherie DeVaux Married? Family Life And Children
DeVaux is married to David Ingordo, a respected Thoroughbred bloodstock agent who has long been part of her circle of advisors and, later, her husband. Their blended family reflects two lives already deeply rooted in the racing industry before they combined them.
Who Is Cherie DeVaux’s Sister?
Her sister, Adrianne DeVaux, is 26 years old and worked as Cherie’s assistant trainer from 2020 to 2024 before stepping into her own path in racing. Adrianne is married to Rodrigo Ubillo, and like her older sister, has built her career on the backside rather than choosing a life outside the sport.
Does Cherie DeVaux Have Children?
DeVaux does not have biological children, but she has a stepdaughter, Reagan Ingordo, through her marriage to David Ingordo. DeVaux has spoken warmly about naming horses after her, a small but telling gesture that folds family life directly into the barn she runs every day.
Honorary Citizenship And Other Recognition
In the wake of her Derby win, DeVaux received an honorary citizenship tied to Louisville, an honor extended to Kentucky Derby winners that recognizes her place in the race’s history. The Kentucky Derby Museum has also moved to include a piece from her historic run as an exhibit, preserving items like the silver electrical tape and gear associated with Golden Tempo’s win for future visitors.
Mayor Craig Greenberg and other city officials were among those who publicly marked the occasion, treating her win as a big deal not just for horse racing but for the city’s own place in the sport’s history. DeVaux has said she hopes the honor stays the way it is — tied to merit and to the horse’s run, not simply to her being the first woman to receive it.
Tragedy At Saratoga During The Summer Meet
Even amid the celebration of Golden Tempo’s Derby run, horse racing’s 2026 summer meet at Saratoga was marked by tragedy. A 3-year-old colt named Englishman, owned by Lael Stables and conditioned in the Jerkens barn, collapsed on the track surface and died from an apparent cardiac event, becoming the third fatality since the summer meet began.
The colt had made just three lifetime starts and had been warming up ahead of a maiden special weight race on the card the day before Travers Day when he staggered and went down. According to the state Gaming Commission’s Equine Death and Breakdown database, the fatality was logged alongside two earlier incidents from the same meet — a July 3 workout and a July 18 training mishap — reviving scrutiny of safety more than a month before racing wrapped at Saratoga.
The news event unfolded against the backdrop of Travers week, a period usually defined by pageantry rather than loss, and it underscored how the sport’s biggest triumphs, like DeVaux’s Kentucky Derby win, sit alongside real risks to the horses that make Sport of Kings possible.
What To Know About Derby-Winning Trainer Cherie DeVaux
Cherie DeVaux’s career recap is, at its core, a story about patience: eight years as an assistant before stepping out on her own, followed by a six-month vision for Golden Tempo that culminated in a Kentucky Derby win few saw coming at 23-1. Her background as a pre-med student turned trainer, her family’s roots in Standardbred racing, and her direct, no-nonsense demeanor all shaped a first female trainer whose win is already being called a pioneering element in the sport’s modern history.
FAQs
Who Is Cherie DeVaux?
Cherie DeVaux is a 44-year-old American thoroughbred trainer who became the first woman in Kentucky Derby history to train the race’s winning horse, Golden Tempo, in 2026. She spent eight years as an assistant to trainer Chad Brown before earning her own trainer’s license in 2018.
Who Are Cherie DeVaux’s Parents?
Her father, Butch DeVaux, trained Standardbred harness horses, and her mother is Janet DeVaux. Cherie grew up around the family’s racing business, giving her an early, hands-on introduction to life with horses long before she became a trainer herself.
Who Is Cherie DeVaux’s Sister?
Cherie DeVaux’s sister is Adrianne DeVaux, who is 26 years old and served as her assistant trainer from 2020 to 2024. Adrianne is married to Rodrigo Ubillo and has continued building her own career in racing.
Does Cherie DeVaux Have Children?
Cherie DeVaux does not have biological children. She is married to Thoroughbred bloodstock agent David Ingordo and has a stepdaughter, Reagan Ingordo, through that marriage.
Where Is Cherie DeVaux From?
DeVaux has strong Southwest Florida roots, having grown up in Englewood and graduated from Lemon Bay High School before attending Florida Gulf Coast University as a pre-med student. She later moved to upstate New York to train under Chad Brown at Saratoga.
How Much Did Cherie DeVaux Win At The Kentucky Derby?
The Kentucky Derby purse is split among the winning owner, trainer, and jockey according to standard racing industry percentages, with trainers typically earning a percentage of the horse’s share rather than the full purse. Exact personal earnings figures for DeVaux from the win have not been publicly detailed.
What Is Cherie DeVaux’s Net Worth?
Cherie DeVaux’s personal net worth has not been publicly disclosed or verified. As a working trainer, her income is generally tied to training fees, a percentage of race earnings, and bonuses from major wins like the Kentucky Derby, rather than a publicly reported salary.
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