Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will not run in the Preakness Stakes next weekend, with trainer Cherie DeVaux announcing Wednesday that the horse will skip the race and point to the Belmont Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga Race Course.
DeVaux and the owners made the call after Golden Tempo’s 23-1 upset in the Kentucky Derby, when he came from the back of the pack and won by a neck over morning line favorite Renegade. DeVaux said the horse gave them “the race of a lifetime” at Churchill Downs and that the best decision was to give him a little more time after such a demanding effort. “Golden gave us the race of a lifetime in the Kentucky Derby, and we believe the best decision for him moving forward is to give him a little more time following such a tremendous effort. His health, happiness and long-term future will always remain our top priority,” she said. She also said the team was “incredibly appreciative of the excitement and support surrounding the possibility of a Triple Crown run.”
The decision means none of the 18 horses from the Kentucky Derby will head to the Preakness, and Golden Tempo was the only Derby horse even under consideration for the race. That removes any Triple Crown chance from next weekend’s Preakness, which is being held at Laurel Park this spring while Pimlico Race Course is rebuilt. In recent years, the Preakness has often gone forward without a Derby winner in the field, and only American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018 have swept all three Triple Crown races in the past four decades.
Maryland racing officials are also weighing whether to move the Preakness from the third Saturday in May to the fourth Saturday in May. For now, the race will run at Laurel Park while Pimlico is rebuilt, with the historic track set to become Maryland’s year-round racing site beginning next year. Golden Tempo’s path now runs through Saratoga, not Baltimore, and the colt who stunned the Derby will try to arrive at the Belmont with more time to recover and the same late kick that carried him through the first leg of the Triple Crown.
