DeVaux Has Plenty of Company Across Racing Map

Few noticed that Cherie DeVaux warmed up for her historic training victory in the 152nd Kentucky Derby (G1) May 2 by winning a $70,000 race for $45,000 claimers at Aqueduct Racetrack one hour before Golden Tempo stormed home at Churchill Downs. Sandborn was the horse's name, making only his fifth start at age 5, which makes him sound like a project every bit as challenging as campaigning a classic colt. On the same afternoon, also at Aqueduct, New York champion trainer Linda Rice won her 2,816th race in a 6-furlong dash for maiden $20,000 claimers with a horse named Chardonnay Derby. Good timing. Meanwhile, down Florida way, Kathleen O'Connell ran her career win total to 2,639 in the seventh at Tampa Bay Downs, a maiden race for $10,000 claimers. The purse was just $19,550, compared to the $5 million in Louisville, Ky., but at least O'Connell stuck with the theme. Her winner was named Kathleen's Derby. That other Kathleen—Kate DeMasi—celebrated last Saturday by edging ever closer to the 2,000-win mark with a double at Parx Racing, where she enjoys special status as the first woman inducted into the Parx Hall of Fame. And at Lone Star Park, second-generation trainer Mindy Willis continued her hot hand in the opening weeks of the season with the 6-year-old mare Bali Girlee in a $5,000 claimer. That was her win number six at the meet, one better than that guy Asmussen. How tough can it be? Lori Plasters won a $29,500 allowance optional claimer May 2 at Fairmount Park with the 7-year-old gelding Fast Cross Traffic. Annie Hines celebrated Derby Day by winning a $2,500 claimer at Fonner Park with Doc's Joy at 12-1. Heather Smullen, also known as Robin Smullen's niece, kept the ball rolling into her third season as a trainer by winning the fifth race at Gulfstream Park with her own horse, the 4-year-old gelding Tapstick, who was promptly claimed for $12,500. Then there were the women of the Laurel Park training fraternity (sorority?), who set the table for DeVaux's remarkable moment by winning four of the 10 races on the May 2 program. Madison Meyers, who made headlines last fall by winning the Sycamore Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland with Desvio, kicked off the day by winning the opener with The Money Monkey, a 5-year-old mare. Brittany Russell padded her lead in the trainers standings with two winners—the Unified filly Vanilla and the 5-year-old Catalytic—before Joanne Shankle won the ninth, a $47,040 allowance event with On a Proud Note, a daughter of 2017 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Cloud Computing. With absence of DeVaux and Golden Tempo in the field for the 151st running of the Preakness May 16, it's odds-on the NBC telecast of the race will descend upon Russell for one of its up-close-and-personal vignettes. She will be sending forth the Nyquist colt Taj Mahal, whose record of three wins in three starts was embellished by a front-running romp in the Federico Tesio Stakes April 18 at Laurel. If Russell succeeds in becoming the first woman to train a Preakness winner, a certain twist of Triple Crown history would be complete. A woman has already won the Belmont Stakes (G1), and a proper one at that, run at a mile and a half at the old Belmont Park. "I said it when I won and I'm sure Cherie is saying the same thing," said Jena Antonucci, who won the 2023 Belmont Stakes with Arcangelo. "It's not a gender conversation. We happen to train racehorses and we happen to be female. I've always said, it's a matter of opportunity. "The industry needs to do a better job of spreading horses around and giving people those opportunities," Antonucci went on. "There are a lot of phenomenal horsemen out there who are a middle-size stable who do not want to be a big box stable, and that's fine. Actually, that's more than fine." The Derby, with its mythic status, imparts an extra layer of celebrity upon its winners. All this week, DeVaux has taken one spotlight after another, from the "Today" show to the mound at Yankee Stadium, where she threw out the first pitch May 5 alongside her Derby jockey Jose Ortiz. Antonucci recalls the vibe surrounding her landmark Belmont win, as well as her 2023 Travers Stakes (G1) victory with Arcangelo, as something decidedly different. At Saratoga Race Course that summer, after the racing deaths of Maple Leaf Mel and then New York Thunder (barely two hours before the Travers), the trainer found herself in a spotlight that required as much explaining as celebrating. "I was the crisis-mode cleanup person," Antonucci said. "At the time, we were in that death spiral of a challenge to our social license to even operate, and how horrible racing was. "The fact that we are where we are now is a testament to how hard we've worked to rebuild our reputation over the last several years," she added. "The mainstream seems to have leaned in and embraced us a little more." And a woman winning the Kentucky Derby has furthered that embrace. "Hopefully, everyone will have a first," Antonucci said, "and then move forward." First is always best, but only can be lonely. Once Janet Elliot broke the ice by training Breeders' Cup Grand National Hurdle Handicap (NSA-1) winner Correggio in 1996, the way was paved for Jenine Sahadi, Laura de Seroux, Carla Gaines, Kathy Ritvo, Diane Alvarado (now Diane Morici), Jo Hughes, Maria Borell, and Cherie DeVaux to follow with their own winning Breeders' Cup chapters. Then again, if you can name them all, that's not enough. Women run countries and Fortune 500 corporations. However, when it comes to winning the great prizes of Thoroughbred racing, women trainers are still as rare as hen's teeth. The North American racing day of May 2, 2026, was not concluded until long after the crowd at Churchill Downs had disappeared into the Kentucky night. The final race at the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, there in the darkened hills of West Virginia, went off at 11:09 p.m. ET. Trainer Kristy Gazzier, daughter of retired jockey Rebecca Gazzier, had the 6-year-old mare Corri Felice ready to roll in the 7-furlong nightcap for a $4,500 claiming price. The daughter of Runhappy broke in the air and trailed her nine opponents before launching a ferocious finish to win by 1 3/4 lengths as the 2-1 favorite. Call it Golden Tempo lite. "That wasn't the plan, for her to break like that," Gazzier said with a laugh. "But it was a great way to end a day when history was made." Gazzier has been training since 2017 and turns 33 later this month. Despite her family ties to the sport and the help of her husband, former jockey Mauricio Rodriguez, she is regularly reminded of how Antonucci and DeVaux had to be determined pioneers of the modern game. "Even now, it is hard to deal with being a woman in this industry," Gazzier said. "It's still a men-driven world. I try to be a kind person, and honest, so I think people respect me. And it's worth it, because I just love the sport, and I love the horses." Gazzier and her crew watched the Derby from their tack room before bringing the first of four runners over for the Charles Town opener last Saturday night. Four hours later, Gazzier and Corri Felice put a cherry on top of a day to remember. "My dad actually mentioned that the next morning," she said. "'You were part of history yesterday!'" With more to come.