Kentucky Derby Winner Golden Tempo Will Not Run in the Preakness Stakes

A Derby for the Ages — Then Silence

On May 2, Golden Tempo delivered one of the most dramatic finishes in Kentucky Derby history. The 23-1 longshot, dead last through the opening half-mile, threaded through an 18-horse field along the outside rail and overtook favorite Renegade by a neck at the wire [1]. Jockey José Ortiz had executed a ride of surgical precision. Trainer Cherie DeVaux had become the first woman to saddle a Kentucky Derby winner [2]. The Phipps Stable and Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable homebred had announced himself as the most exciting three-year-old in training.

Four days later, DeVaux announced that Golden Tempo would not run in the Preakness Stakes on May 16 [3].

"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," DeVaux said in a statement. "His health, happiness and long-term future will always remain our top priority" [4].

The decision means there will be no Triple Crown winner in 2026. It also means the second leg of American racing's signature series will, for the second consecutive year and the third time in five years, run without the Derby winner in the field [5].

The Numbers Behind the Decision

Golden Tempo's five lifetime starts were spaced 28, 25, 35, and 42 days apart [6]. The Preakness would have required him to race again in just 14 days — half the shortest interval he had ever experienced. For a horse whose closing style depends on a deep, lung-searing rally from the back of the pack, that turnaround presents an obvious physiological challenge.

DeVaux's statement framed the decision around recovery rather than injury. No specific veterinary concern was disclosed, and co-owner Daisy Phipps Pulito backed the trainer's judgment [7]. Independent veterinary assessments have not been publicly released, though Golden Tempo was reported to have returned to DeVaux's Keeneland base in good condition after the Derby [4].

The target is now the Belmont Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga Race Course — DeVaux's hometown track — giving Golden Tempo approximately five weeks of recovery [3]. That timeline aligns far more closely with his established racing pattern.

A Pattern, Not an Anomaly

Golden Tempo is not an outlier. He is the latest data point in a clear trend.

Source: Multiple sources

Data as of May 7, 2026CSV

Since 2022, three healthy Derby winners have skipped the Preakness: Rich Strike (2022), Sovereignty (2025), and now Golden Tempo (2026) [5]. Before Rich Strike's decision, no healthy Derby winner had bypassed the Preakness since Spend A Buck in 1985, who skipped to pursue a $2 million bonus at the Jersey Derby [8].

The reasons have varied in their specifics but share a common thread: modern trainers increasingly view the 14-day turnaround as incompatible with the welfare and competitive longevity of elite horses.

Rich Strike's owner, Rick Dawson, said in 2022 that the decision was "very tempting" but that the colt performed best after longer layoffs [9]. Bill Mott, who trained 2025 Derby winner Sovereignty, chose to give the colt five weeks' rest before the Belmont, citing the horse's "long-term interests" [10]. Sovereignty went on to win the Belmont Stakes, the Jim Dandy, and the Travers, and was named 2025 Horse of the Year with 201 of 220 first-place votes [11].

The Sovereignty precedent looms large over Golden Tempo's situation. A Derby winner who skipped the Preakness, then dominated the rest of the three-year-old season, validated the strategy in the most emphatic terms possible.

What the Connections Forgo — and What They Protect

The 2026 Preakness carries a $2 million purse, with roughly $1.2 million going to the winner [12]. By skipping, Golden Tempo's ownership group leaves that prize money on the table. There is no formal Triple Crown bonus in the current structure, though the last horse to sweep all three races — Justify in 2018 — earned a $1.5 million Visa Triple Crown bonus that was offered that year [13].

But the financial calculus extends well beyond a single purse. Golden Tempo is a son of Curlin, the Hall of Fame stallion whose stud fee has risen from $25,000 in 2014 to $225,000 in 2026 [14]. Analysis of Golden Tempo's own breeding prospects projects a stallion syndication valued between $20 million and $25 million, with a base-case stud fee of $40,000 generating approximately $6.8 million in annual revenue [14].

A catastrophic injury or even a poor, taxing performance on short rest could damage that valuation. The risk-reward calculation is straightforward: a $1.2 million Preakness purse versus a multi-million-dollar breeding future that depends on the horse remaining sound and competitive through the fall.

Two-time Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill put it plainly: "Just the way the sport has evolved, to try to squeeze three tough races into five weeks is just not realistic" [15]. Brad Cox, another prominent trainer, has said even a three-week gap between the Derby and Preakness would not give horses enough time to recover [15].

The Preakness Pays the Price

The absence of the Derby winner carries measurable consequences for the Preakness Stakes and its stakeholders.

Source: NBC Sports / Sportico

Data as of May 20, 2025CSV

In 2018, when Justify pursued and completed the Triple Crown, the Preakness drew 9.2 million television viewers [16]. In 2025, when Sovereignty skipped, NBC's Preakness broadcast drew just 4.6 million viewers for the race portion — the smallest audience since NBC began televising the Preakness in 2001, excluding the pandemic-rescheduled 2020 edition [17]. That represents a 50% decline from the Triple Crown-bid peak in under a decade.

The 2026 Preakness faces additional headwinds. For the first time, the race will be held at Laurel Park in Maryland rather than its historic home at Pimlico Race Course, which is undergoing a $400 million renovation [12]. And of the 18-horse Derby field, only one — Ocelli, a 70-1 longshot — appeared headed to Maryland as of early May [6]. Over the past five years, just nine Derby horses total have competed in the Preakness [6].

For NBC, which broadcasts the Preakness as part of its Triple Crown package, the absence of a storyline connecting the first two races diminishes the event's casual-viewer appeal. The Preakness without the Derby winner becomes, as one industry analysis noted, "just another horse race" rather than a marquee sporting event [16].

The Maryland racing economy absorbs the impact as well. While the move to Laurel Park was planned regardless of Golden Tempo's decision, the combination of a new venue, no Derby winner, and minimal Derby-field participation creates a challenging environment for on-track handle and gate revenue.

The Veterinary Science Question

Is the 14-day gap between the Derby and Preakness genuinely dangerous? The answer is more nuanced than either side of the debate typically acknowledges.

Research on musculoskeletal injury risk in Thoroughbreds has found a non-linear relationship between high-speed exercise distance in the preceding four weeks and injury odds [18]. Accumulated fatigue matters, but the relationship is not simply "more racing equals more injuries." Horses conditioned to handle repeated efforts at shorter intervals may tolerate the schedule better than those whose training has emphasized longer rest periods.

The problem is that modern training methods have shifted decisively toward the latter approach. As breeding has prioritized speed over durability, trainers have adapted by spacing races further apart [15]. The 14-day turnaround does not necessarily pose an elevated catastrophic-injury risk in absolute terms, but it asks horses to do something their training has not prepared them for.

Golden Tempo's case illustrates this perfectly. A horse who has never raced on fewer than 25 days' rest is being asked to cut that interval nearly in half, at the highest level of competition, on the heels of a maximal effort in which he ran the entire 1¼ miles of the Derby at full exertion from the back of the pack. The Beyer Speed Figure for his Derby win was 95 — the slowest winning figure in recent decades — suggesting the race was won on tactics and grit rather than raw superiority [6]. A tired horse asked to reproduce that effort in 14 days is a horse being set up to underperform or worse.

The Case for Skipping — and What It Means for the Triple Crown

The strongest argument for Golden Tempo's withdrawal is that Sovereignty already proved the model works. Skip the Preakness, win the Belmont, dominate the rest of the season, and claim Horse of the Year. Sovereignty won five of six starts, including three Grade I races, and received near-unanimous support as the best horse in training [11]. No one argued he wasn't the champion of his generation simply because he didn't run in the Preakness.

If Golden Tempo follows the same path — and his connections clearly intend to try — the Triple Crown format faces an existential question. When the optimal strategy for the sport's best horses is to skip the second race, the series is no longer functioning as designed.

The historical record of Derby winners who skipped the Preakness and returned for the Belmont is thin but instructive. Before Sovereignty, five Derby winners had taken that path: Aristides (1875, second in Belmont), Baden-Baden (1877, third), Count Turf (1951, seventh), Gato Del Sol (1982, second), and Rich Strike (2022, sixth) [19]. None won. Sovereignty broke that pattern emphatically, and his success appears to have permanently altered the calculus for future connections.

Reform Pressure Builds

The growing trend has intensified calls for structural reform. The most widely discussed proposal is moving the Preakness back by one week, creating a three-week gap after the Derby [15]. Some trainers have suggested an even longer interval.

Television rights negotiations beginning in 2027 may create the opening for change. Reports indicate the Preakness could be scheduled three weeks after the 2027 Kentucky Derby, with broadcast partners potentially viewing a longer gap as worth the scheduling adjustment if it ensures the Derby winner's participation [20].

The counterargument from traditionalists centers on the Triple Crown's identity as a test of both talent and stamina — including the stamina to endure a compressed schedule. The series has operated on roughly the same calendar since the mid-20th century, and all 13 Triple Crown winners navigated the five-week gauntlet. Changing the format, critics say, would produce a different achievement, not the same one made easier.

But the traditionalist position is weakened each year the Derby winner doesn't show up. A Triple Crown that exists in theory but is functionally unattainable — because the sport's best-trained horses are managed too carefully to attempt it — serves neither tradition nor spectacle.

What Comes Next

Golden Tempo will train at DeVaux's base before shipping to Saratoga for the June 6 Belmont Stakes [3]. If he wins, he will have captured the first and third legs of the Triple Crown — the same résumé Sovereignty carried through 2025. The question of whether he is the best three-year-old in America will then depend on what happens in the summer and fall: the Jim Dandy, the Travers, and potentially the Breeders' Cup Classic.

The Preakness, meanwhile, will run at Laurel Park on May 16 with a field that lacks the sport's marquee name [12]. NBC will broadcast the race beginning at 4 p.m. ET, with the post time set for 7:01 p.m. [12]. The contenders include several horses from outside the Derby field, along with Ocelli, the sole Derby participant making the trip [6].

For the Preakness as an institution, the question is no longer whether individual Derby winners will skip the race. The question is whether the race can survive as a premier event when skipping it has become the rational choice for the sport's most valuable horses. The answer may depend on whether the industry acts before the 2027 television cycle — or whether it waits until the Preakness becomes a race that only the horses who didn't win the Derby bother to enter.