Longines Kentucky Derby (Grade 1)

SIX generations.

Blitey. Oh, What A Dance. Dancingimydreams. Castanet. Carrumba. Golden Tempo.

In American racing, the name stands above all others. Phipps. And it’s all about two turns on the dirt. The classics. The stamina. The soundness. The distance.

In an ever-changing, never-more-instant, sales-and-speed focused sport, the old-school, breed-to-race programmes have drifted, not quite away, but have drifted from the syllabus of how to breed, raise and race a racehorse.

At Churchill Downs on May 2nd, the lessons came back to life as Golden Tempo, bred by Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, upset the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby.

Trained by Cherie DeVaux and ridden by Jose Ortiz, the son of Curlin rallied from last, so far last, to win by a neck over favourite Renegade and maiden Ocelli.

Phipps blood always pumps true, but never truer than in the last furlong of this year’s mile-and-a-quarter Kentucky Derby.

“This is everything to anybody in horse racing, really,” Daisy Phipps Pulito said. “This is what we breed to race. This is why you do it, to be on stages like this.

“And the way he ran and the way he was raised at Claiborne Farm. There’s just so many people to thank in this. Claiborne, Barry Eisaman, who broke him. Jose, his groom. Enrique, who is his exercise rider. Obviously, Cherie who runs that team. It’s just been an unbelievable group effort. He’s been a pleasure to be around. It’s been a really fun campaign.”

A 57-year campaign.

Breed-shaping

Ogden Phipps (Daisy’s grandfather) purchased Lady Pitt privately in 1969. The daughter of Sword Dancer fit the programme. Ten wins, 14 seconds, five thirds in 47 starts in those iconic breed-shaping races - Coaching Club American Oaks, Mother Goose, Kentucky Oaks.

Joining the Phipps’ broodmare band, she produced Blitey, who began her own family tree of brilliance. She won the Test, the Maskette, the Ballerina and placed in the Imp, the Delaware Handicap. Seven furlongs to 10 furlongs, yeah, that kind of depth.

She produced the likes of Home Leave, Dancing All Night, Dancing Spree, Fantastic Find, Oh What A Dance, Sabbatical and Furlough, there’s not enough space on this page to explain their exploits.

The limbs expanded from there, breed to race. Colts ran, daughters ran and produced. And here came Golden Tempo, a late-developing, late-running, dirt-on-dirt throwback.

The bay colt rallied from last in his debut going six furlongs at Fair Grounds in December. A month later, he stormed from last to win the Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds.

A month later, he closed to be third in the Grade 2 Risen Star. Five weeks later, he chugged into third in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. Each race got longer, building to the longest, the Kentucky Derby.

Pretenders

Play the card you’re dealt. The ever-cool Ortiz allowed Golden Tempo to lag in last as the pretenders slugged it out on the heat. Following his brother, Irad, on Renegade, Ortiz split, sliced and swung to the outside as Damon Bourbon stretched, Ocelli reached and Chief Wallabee bumped and bounced. Golden Tempo was always getting there, getting there, getting there and then he was there, that’s the 10 furlongs of the Derby to a 10-furlong specialist.

Golden Tempo won by a neck over Renegade, who had three-quarters of a length on Ocelli. Golden Tempo stopped the clock in 2m 02.27secs and led a windfall of prices. The 50-cent trifecta paid $5,625.39, the one-dollar superfecta returned $94,489.95.

Breakthrough

For the Phipps family, it was a rebirth. For DeVaux, the first woman to win the Derby, it was a breakthrough.

“Being a woman or my gender has never really crossed my mind in this journey of mine. I have to say, the racetrack is a tough place. It’s a tough place if you are a man. It’s a tough place if you’re a woman,” DeVaux said.

“The thing that really has become apparent to me is that not everyone has the same constitution as I have mentally.

“It really is an honour to be able to be that person for other women or other little girls to look up to. You can dream big, and you can pivot. You can come from one place and make yourself a part of history.”

Phipps history. Derby history.

Ortiz on high

It was also a momentous occasion for jockey Jose Ortiz (32), winning his first Derby and getting the better of his brother Irad in that rousing finish, the two joining hands after the post.

Ortiz was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where he remained before moving to New York in 2012 at the age of 19.

In 2017, Ortiz earned his first win in a Triple Crown race with Tapwrit in the Belmont Stakes.

He became the ninth jockey to achieve the feat of winning the Derby and Oaks.