Welcome to Kentucky Derby Prospect Profiles, where we take a look each week at a recent winner on the Road to the Derby schedule that offers qualifying points to the 1 ¼-mile classic race May 2, 2026, at Churchill Downs.

This week, we take a closer look at Golden Tempo, the three-quarter-length winner of the $250,000 Lecomte Stakes Jan. 17 at Fair Grounds. Golden Tempo banked 20 points for the win and rose to second on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with a victory in his first stakes race.

Racing Résumé: Golden Tempo improved to 2-for-2 with a last-to-first win in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes. He trailed the 10-horse field through the first three-quarters of a mile in the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte and passed nine horses in the final five-sixteenths under Jose Ortiz to prevail on a track that had favored speed throughout the day.

The Lecomte victory followed a debut win sprinting three-quarters of a mile Dec. 20 at the New Orleans track for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

Fair Grounds has the longest stretch run for a dirt track in North America and provided ample real estate for Golden Tempo to rally in both starts to date. What was concerning to me in the Lecomte was how slowly the entire field finished as a final quarter mile in :25.74 and a final eighth of a mile in :12.98 was sufficient for Golden Tempo to pass the entire field.

“I knew that track was playing forward but if I have a horse like him, that doesn’t have early speed, what can you do?” Ortiz said. “I was just very patient. … Luckily, I got an opening and the horse did the rest. I’m very impressed. I was a little bit worried because you never know how a horse is going to react going two turns for the first time and he was facing stakes horses for the first time.”

Speed Figures: Golden Tempo’s speed figures for the Lecomte – 84 Equibase Speed Figure, 81 Beyer Speed Figure – are reflective of the slow finish in the race. His Equibase number dipped three points from the 87 he earned in his debut while his Beyer figure improved three points from a 78 to an 81. Golden Tempo has room to improve after two races, and the speed figures indicate he will need to take a significant step forward to compete with the best 3-year-olds.

Running Style: Deep closers like Golden Tempo are dependent upon others to ensure an honest pace and frequently must navigate traffic when rallying in larger fields, like he faced in the Lecomte and would see in the Kentucky Derby should he continue to progress.

Pedigree Notes: Golden Tempo’s pedigree features a terrific combination of class and stamina. He is by two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, a powerful source of stamina, out of Carrumba, a Grade 3 winner at 1 1/8 miles by 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini.

Derby Potential: Given the pedigree, elite connections, and two wins in as many starts, Golden Tempo has the makings of a serious Kentucky Derby candidate, but he will need to run much faster to continue to excel as the competition gets tougher. Progress in racehorses is rarely linear and talented 3-year-olds often deliver breakout performances that indicate significant improvement. That’s what we’ll need to see from Golden Ticket if he’s going to be a bona-fide Kentucky Derby candidate. He’s not fast enough yet, but there is much to like.