RIDGE RUNNER CHRONICLES: The 152nd Running of the Kentucky Derby—What a Joy to Watch!

By Editor | May 19, 2026 |

By BILL HOAGLAND

There were over 19 million viewers who watched the Kentucky Derby last week. And you could not have picked a more enjoyable one to watch. The crowd–pretentious, gentile and probably a bit buzzed by 3:00 p.m.—were all having a wonderful time; it was a joy to watch a diverse group of folks having so much fun in these contentious times. Better yet, the Race for the Roses had all the makings of a Hollywood script: Golden Tempo, the last horse in the final turn, made a heroic effort and beat them all in that dramatic race to the finish line; the winning jockey, Jose Ortiz, beat his older brother by a nose, yet in the post race interview, there was nothing but brotherly love between them; and Cheri DeVaux, the first female trainer to ever win the Derby, was so excited that she passed out when Golden Tempo crossed the finish line.
This was the first time I spent the afternoon watching the Derby with Annie. She normally does not watch the entire event because she is not a fan of racing thoroughbreds or those horse-racing owners who unethically run their horses into the ground. Her horse preferences are horses that can be ridden for pleasure, not racing, although over the years, she has bought several thoroughbreds to train as hunter-jumpers. (She did buy one thoroughbred off the track at the Fairmount Race Track when she heard his owners were going to put him down because he could no longer race. When she got this horse back to her barn, she immediately put him in the stall next to the phone so that he would learn not to run every time he heard a bell go off. Yes, he eventually got the message but generally, racing thoroughbreds are “high maintenance” and a lot of work to retrain.)
Watching the Derby with Annie was interesting because she was seeing things the commentators were missing. For example, a few of the horses accompanying the entrants to the starting gate were appaloosas “because appaloosas are calm horses and have a calming effect on other horses.” When Great White threw his jockey before getting into the starting gate, all horses already in the starting gate had to be backed out before getting back in to the starting gate “because they were way too excited to be safely confined in there for more than a minute”. At the end of the race, Golden Tempo had his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. According to Annie, this is known as “tongue lolling” and results from either the excitement of the race or exhaustion, or it may simply be a recurring bad habit on the part of Golden Tempo”; it usually is not a symptom that something is seriously wrong with the horse.
But the best aspect of this derby, in my humble opinion, came the next day, when Cheri DeVaux announced that Golden Tempo would not be running in the Preakness, just four weeks away, because, in her words, “there was insufficient time for him to recover from his race of a lifetime”. In short, this is an owner-trainer who put the interests of her horse ahead of herself and gave up a shot at the Triple Crown, something many owners would not have done.
Ethical considerations like this one, in today’s money-mad world, are so refreshing.
Note: Cheri is not the first Derby winner to pass on the Preakness but she may be the first to donate her Derby prize money to three charitable causes: funding for the promotion of women in the field of race horse training, funding for health care for older jockeys, and funding for veterinarian care for retired race horses. Good going, Cheri.
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■ Bill Hoagland has practiced law in Alton for more than 50 years, but he has spent more than 70 years hunting, fishing and generally being in the great outdoors. His wife, Annie, shares his love of the outdoor life. Much of their spare time is spent on their farm in Calhoun County. Bill can be reached at [email protected].