Welcome to the Kentucky Derby Prospect Profile. Every week, right here we spotlight current winners of the Street to the Derby schedule that may qualify for the 1 1/4-mile basic race on Might 2, 2026 at Churchill Downs.
This week, we’ll take a better take a look at golden timea horse that received the $250,000 LeConte Stakes by three-quarters of a size on the Fairgrounds on January seventeenth. Golden Tempo piled up 20 factors with the win and moved into second place on the Street to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard along with his first stakes race victory.
Race abstract: Golden Tempo improved to 2-2 with a first-come-first-served win within the G3 Lecomte Stakes. He trailed a pack of 10 horses by the primary three-quarters of the mile on the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte Racecourse, passing 9 horses below Jose Ortiz within the last 16.5 seconds to take the win on a monitor blessed with pace all through the day.
Lecomte’s win adopted his debut win on December 20, when coach Shelley Deveaux sprinted three-quarters of a mile at a racetrack in New Orleans.
Honest Grounds boasts the longest stretch run of any filth monitor in North America and has offered loads of room for Golden Tempo to rally in each begins to this point. What bothered me at Lecomte was how gradual the complete discipline was, as 25.74 seconds for the ultimate quarter mile and 12.98 seconds for the ultimate eighth mile had been sufficient for Golden Tempo to get by the complete discipline.
“I knew that monitor was up entrance, however if in case you have a horse like him and also you don’t have that early pace, what are you able to do?” Ortiz stated. “I used to be very affected person. … Thankfully, I discovered a gap and the horse did the remaining. I am very impressed. I did not know the way the horse would react within the first two corners and it was my first time competing towards a stakes horse, so I used to be slightly anxious.”
Pace numbers: Lecomte’s pace numbers for Golden Tempo (Equibase pace quantity 84, Beyer pace quantity 81) mirror the gradual end of the race. Equibase’s quantity is down three factors from the 87 he scored in his debut, whereas Beyer’s quantity improved by three factors from 78 to 81. Golden Tempo has room for enchancment after two races and his pace numbers present he must make important strides to compete with the very best three-year-olds.
Working model: Deep closers like Golden Tempo depend on different horses for sincere tempo and steadily must work their method round visitors when rallying in bigger fields, as they did towards Lecomte and can see within the Kentucky Derby in the event that they proceed to progress.
Pedigree notes: The Golden Tempo pedigree is characterised by an amazing mixture of sophistication and stamina. The horse is out of Calamba, the place 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini was a G3 winner at 1 1/8 miles, and out of Curlin, who’s a powerful supply of stamina and has been named Horse of the 12 months twice.
Derby potentialities: Given his pedigree, elite pedigree, and two wins in as many begins, Golden Tempo has the makings of a critical Kentucky Derby contender, however he might want to run sooner to proceed to excel because the competitors will increase. A racehorse’s progress isn’t linear, and gifted 3-year-old horses typically placed on unimaginable performances that point out important progress. For him to turn out to be a reliable Kentucky Derby contender, he’ll must determine it out from the Golden Ticket. He is not quick sufficient but, however there’s rather a lot to love.
