"I'm just glad I could be a representative of all women everywhere that we can do anything we set our minds to," DeVaux said after her historic win

NEED TO KNOW

• Cherie DeVaux has made history as the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner
• DeVaux, jockey Jose Ortiz and Golden Tempo took home the coveted first-place prize with a time of 2:02.27 in the 1 1/4-mile race on Saturday, May 2
• “I’m just glad I could be a representative of all women everywhere that we can do anything we set our minds to,” DeVaux said after her historic win

Cherie DeVaux has made history as the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner after her horse Golden Tempo took home the coveted first-place prize.

DeVaux, 44, was photographed trackside in her bright red blazer at Churchill Downs in Louisville on Saturday, May 2, after Golden Tempo's triumphant win at odds of 23-1.

"I honestly don't know," DeVaux said as she was interviewed by NBC and asked what the win meant to her. "I'm just glad I could be a representative of all women everywhere that we can do anything we set our minds to."

Golden Tempo's victory at the 152nd Run for the Roses also marked the first win for jockey Jose Ortiz, who guided the horse to a 2:02.27 finish in the 1 1/4-mile race. It also marks a win for Ortiz, 32, at every Triple Crown event, as he previously won the Belmont Stakes in 2017 with Tapwrit and the Preakness with Early Voting in 2022, per the Louisville Courier Journal.

Renegade came in second place, with Ortiz's brother Irad Ortiz Jr. jockeying, and long shot Ocelli placed third.

"I don't even have any words right now," DeVaux added through tears, per NPR and the Louisville Courier Journal, as she held her nephew, Maverick, and was surrounded by more family members. "I just can't. Just so, so so happy for Golden Tempo. Jose did a wonderful job, a masterful job of getting him there. He was so far out of it."

According to USA Today, only 19 starters in Kentucky Derby history have been trained by women. The closest a woman has ever come to winning before DeVaux was Shelley Riley, who finished second with Casual Lies in 1992. DeVaux's win also marks the second time a female trainer has won a Triple Crown race, as Jena Antonucci won the Belmont Stakes with Arcangelo in 2023.

Originally from the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., area, DeVaux comes from a family with a history in Standardbred racing. She began her professional career in medicine at SUNY Albany before deciding to leave school and become a trainer.

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DeVaux spent six years working under the late trainer Chuck Simon, and another eight years as an assistant to trainer Chad Brown. She went on to get her trainer's license in 2018, according to the Asbury Park Press, before she sent out her first winner in March 2019.

Earlier in the week, DeVaux shared that she doesn't aim to center her persona around being a female trainer, but she told the Courier Journal that she still realizes the weight of her accomplishment.

"By doing this, I am inspiring other young women, and that I am proud of," DeVaux told the outlet. "Women — young, old, whatever age — can look up to me and say, 'If she can do it, I can do it.' "

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