Trainer Cherie DeVaux on Chances Golden Tempo Runs in The Preakness

Cherie DeVaux, fresh off training Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo, joined The Rich Eisen Show and walked through what it actually felt like to stand on the Churchill Downs infield with the roses in hand.

"It was surreal," DeVaux said. She started her career at Churchill Downs 22 years ago, and the realization that she was now standing on that hallowed ground as the winning trainer kept arriving in waves. She thanked Golden Tempo first, then jockey Jose, then her assistant trainers, ground crew and the ownership group at St. Elias Stables and Phipps Stables.

Rich brought up a clip that had been circulating since the race, showing DeVaux interacting with Golden Tempo in the barn. She owned it. She is, by her own description, a hands-on trainer who tries to play with as many horses as she can every day. "I'm a 44-year-old little horse girl at heart," she said. Most three-year-old colts will take an arm off if a trainer leans into that kind of contact. Golden Tempo, she said, takes it all in and clowns a little for the attention.

The conversation turned to why training is still such a male-dominated profession. DeVaux did not punt the question, but she also did not pretend to have a tidy answer. She said she does not see it as overtly sexist. There are plenty of women working in the industry, she noted, and they are the backbone of countless stables. The mystery, for her, is why so few of those women reach the top tier. The job is overwhelming and frightening and hard to break into for anyone, regardless of gender. She said she hopes her win opens the door for the next round of women to follow.

Rich pushed gently on whether owners trust women trainers less, and DeVaux said she was still working that out herself. She came up under Chad Brown when his stable was the top operation in the country. When she went out on her own, she said, she started back at zero. Nothing was given to her. She rebuilt her stable from scratch and kept moving.

She also addressed what she called the elephant in the room, without prompting. She does not have biological children of her own, by choice. Her stepdaughter Reagan is part of her life, and Reagan's father is active in her upbringing, but DeVaux made the call to put career first because she knew herself well enough to understand that splitting her attention would compromise both. She said she has enormous respect for working mothers and was careful not to suggest her path is the only path.

The last question was the one every horse racing fan wanted answered. Pimlico, the Preakness, what's the plan for Golden Tempo. DeVaux said the decision is being tabled until the end of the week. The horse will get five easy days, three of them as walks, then jog at the track and start galloping again Thursday and Friday. She and the ownership group will talk after that. The colt, she said, will dictate the answer.