Cherie DeVaux

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. native Cherie DeVaux spent over a decade as an assistant trainer to Chuck Simon and then Chad Brown before starting her own stable in 2018. Eight years later, she became the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner when Golden Tempo closed powerfully to post a 23-1 upset in the 2026 run for the roses.

Based in Kentucky, DeVaux built her business steadily in succeeding years and earned her first graded stakes win when Gam’s Mission took the 2021 Regret Stakes at Churchill Downs. Later that year, Tarabi finished third in the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies as DeVaux’s first starter in the World Championships.

DeVaux’s career ascent continued in 2023 and 2024 as she picked up her first Grade 1 victories with She Feels Pretty followed by Vahva. In fall 2024, DeVaux broke through at the Breeders’ Cup when More Than Looks rallied late to give her a first win in the World Championships, rallying late to capture the FanDuel Mile Presented by PDJF. Her stable earned a career-best $10.2 million in 2024. Her success comtinued into 2025, when she trained six graded stakes winners, including multiple Grade 1 winner She Feels Pretty.

Golden Tempo put DeVaux in the Kentucky Derby starting gate in 2026 with a win in the Lecomte Stakes and third-place finishes in the Risen Star Stakes and Louisiana Derby, and six seeks later DeVaux and Golden Tempo made history at Churchill Downs May 2, 2026, with a hard-fought win over Renegade in the first jewel of the Triple Crown. Five weeks later on June 6, DeVaux became the second female trainer to win the Belmont Stakes, joining Jena Antonucci, after Golden Tempo rallied through the Saratoga stretch to take the Triple Crown’s third jewel.

DeVaux is married to bloodstock agent David Ingordo.