Golden Tempo wins 152nd Kentucky Derby in dramatic finish

May 2, 2026 Updated Sat., May 2, 2026 at 5:58 p.m.

By Emily Ohman </p><p>and Dan Santaromita The Athletic

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Golden Tempo raced from the back of the pack to win the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, holding off morning-line favorite Renegade at the finish and making Cherie DeVaux the first female trainer to claim victory in a race that was being run for the 152nd time.

Golden Tempo, who was a 23-1 longshot at post time, was well off the lead at the top of the stretch. Then jockey Jose Ortiz urged the horse on and Golden Tempo thundered past the rest of the field, with Renegade following suit.

“I’m just so, so, so happy for Golden Tempo,” DeVaux said in a post-race interview on the NBC broadcast. “Jose did a wonderful job, masterful job, at getting him there – he was so far out of it – and he’s had so much faith in this horse.”

Ocelli, an also-eligible horse that got into the field during the week and went off at 70-1, was third. It was the first Derby win for Ortiz, who was also aboard the Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner on Friday. He outdueled his brother Irad Ortiz Jr., who was riding Renegade.

Renegade’s second-place finish was another Derby disappointment for owner Mike Repole, the brash billionaire who is now 0 for 9 in the opening leg of the Triple Crown, not including three scratches.

It was instead a historic day for DeVaux. She is the second female trainer to win a Triple Crown race, following Jena Antonucci’s victory with Arcangelo at the 2023 Belmont Stakes.

“I’m glad that I can be a representative of all women everywhere,” DeVaux said on the NBC broadcast. “That we can do anything we set our minds to.”

The race had an inauspicious start with a scratch at post time as Great White reared up and sent his rider to the ground before entering the gate. Great White was the No. 21 horse, which meant most of the field was already in the gate.

The horses had to leave the gate while Great White was safely ushered off the track. The field then quickly re-entered the gate. In all, it was a roughly five-minute delay.

So Happy, the trendy pick that had become one of the favorites through Saturday’s betting, took the early lead. Six Speed and then Danon Bourbon led for most of the rest of the race. Ocelli, a 50-1 longshot on the morning line odds, had the lead midway down the final straight before Golden Tempo’s charge.

Jose Ortiz could hardly contain his emotions after becoming the ninth jockey to win the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby in the same year.

“It’s a dream come true,” Ortiz said through tears on the NBC broadcast. “This is the biggest race in the world for me, and I’m just blessed.

“… I’m just very happy that I get my life dream goal achieved, and, you know, it’s just an amazing experience. I can’t wait to see my family and celebrate.”

This year’s “Race for the Roses” drew a crowd of 150,415 despite uncharacteristically cold Derby weather. The high at Churchill Downs was forecast to be 59 degrees, putting Saturday among the coldest race days since 1989, when temperatures dropped below 40 degrees.

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