Cherie DeVaux is back where her racing life began, and this time she arrives with a Kentucky Derby winner in tow. Golden Tempo will run in the 158th Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, giving DeVaux a chance to add another major race victory just five weeks after she became the first woman to train a Derby winner.
That is why her name is drawing fresh attention now. The Belmont is being run at Saratoga for the third and final time before returning to Belmont Park next year, and DeVaux has a homecoming built into the moment: she was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, and later came back to study at the University of Albany, a 30-minute drive away. For Saratoga racing fans, the golden tempo trainer is not just a title in search traffic. It is a local story with a national stage.
DeVaux’s road to this weekend was a long one. After two years at Albany, she left school and started in horse racing as a hot walker for the late trainer Chuck Simon before moving on to work as an assistant trainer for Chad Brown. She opened her own stable in Lexington, Kentucky, in 2018, and since then has won big races with horses including She Feels Pretty and Vahva. The Derby, though, changed the scale of the spotlight. Golden Tempo was a 23-1 long shot when the colt won at Churchill Downs, and DeVaux became the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner.
Still, she has made clear that the milestone is not how she defines herself. DeVaux has said she sees herself simply as a horse trainer, and that winning the Derby felt like an achievable goal rather than a banner to carry. She said she is looking forward to Belmont week with her family, especially her nieces and nephews, the young ones who do not usually get to the races. The personal return matters in Saratoga, where Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce, said the local link has only intensified the interest, calling DeVaux the rock star coming back home.
The unfinished question is whether Golden Tempo can turn the occasion into another marquee win. DeVaux could become only the second female trainer to win the Belmont in four years, following Jena Antonucci’s victory with Arcangelo in 2023. If Golden Tempo handles Saratoga on Saturday, the story will be bigger than a reunion. It will be another victory at the track that helped shape her, before the Belmont heads back to Belmont Park next year.
