The Phipps Stable may no longer operate with the size and scope it once did, but it still is very much an active participant in Thoroughbred racing. Its numbers may currently be the lightest they’ve been, but there is at least one colt who carries the hopes of getting this legendary stable back to the spring classics. Golden Tempo, owned in partnership by the Phippses and the St. Elias Stable of Vinnie and Teresa Viola, has won his first two starts, including the Grade 3 Lecomte last month. On Saturday, he tries to take the next step toward the Kentucky Derby when he faces seven other 3-year-olds in the Grade 2, $500,000 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds. “Everybody focuses on trying to win those big races, obviously I’ve thought about winning the Triple Crown,” said Daisy Phipps Pulito, who heads the Phipps Stable these days. “This time of year, there are lot of horses that are still developing. That’s why going into a weekend like this weekend it’s exciting. You can see where you stack up, where it’s good, where it’s bad. Maybe you’ll keep those Derby dreams alive.” The Phippses won their first Derby in 2013 with Orb, a colt the family owned with Stuart Janney III, the cousin of Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps. Since Dinny Phipps died in 2016, the stable – which traces back to 1925 when Gladys Mills Phipps bought her first horse – has undergone a transformation. Daisy Phipps Pulito and her brother Ogden manage a smaller version of the operation. There are still about 17 mares they breed, some to race, some to sell. While the Phippses race many of the mares by themselves, they have partnered on most of their colts. In 2021, the Phippses made it to the Kentucky Derby with Dynamic One, a horse owned in partnership with St. Elias and Mike Repole. Dynamic One, after finishing second in the Wood Memorial, finished 18th in the Kentucky Derby. :: DRF's Derby Watch Top 20 | Who's hot, who's not | Pedigree profile: Golden Tempo In recent years, the Phippses and St. Elias have strengthened their alliance. “About a year and a half ago I was talking with Vinnie and we were interested in doing more stuff together,” said Phipps Pulito, who noted her mother, Ande, is still active in the stable. “He had bought a couple of horses out of the sale that we stayed in on and from there we’ve been good partners. We get along really well. I really like the Violas. We’re friends outside of the racetrack, and so we made an agreement a couple of years ago to partner on some of our colts and Golden Tempo is one of those.” Golden Tempo is by Curlin out of the mare Carrumba, a Grade 3 winner whom the Phippses campaigned from 2015 to 2017. Deeper in the pedigree, one finds Heavenly Prize, the 3-year-old champion filly of 1994 and an eight-time Grade 1 winner for the Phippses. Heavenly Prize, inducted in the Hall of Fame, was emblematic of a stable that produced champions every decade starting with Bold Ruler in the 1950s through Smuggler in 2005. The Phipps Stable flourished under the leadership of Ogden Phipps and his son Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps. “When my grandfather and my dad had it, Phipps Stable was one of the biggest stables,” Phipps Pulito said. “There wasn’t all of these partnerships, and trainers didn’t have that many horses either. When we had 35, 40 horses in training we were one of the bigger stables and this game is a bit of a numbers game ,too.” Currently, the Phippses have fewer than 10 horses in training, which doesn’t count the prospective 2-year-olds of 2026, of which there are seven. In addition to Golden Tempo, the Phippses have Quiet Power, a son of Tapit who has finished second in two of three starts – all on turf – and who is expected to make his 3-year-old debut at the end of the month. “There was a concerted effort to downsize. It was also a concerted effort to try not to sell the meat of what we had and I think we’ve done a good job of that,” Phipps Pulito said. While the Phippses have been aligned with trainer Shug McGaughey since 1985, they have had horses with other trainers. Dynamic One was trained by Todd Pletcher. Golden Tempo is trained by Cherie DeVaux, who also has the unraced 3-year-old Silent Charge for the Phippses and St. Elias. “I have a partner. Everything just can’t go to Shug, so we discuss who both of us are very comfortable with training our horses and some go to Shug and a couple will go to other people,” Phipps Pulito said. DeVaux is a rising star in the game. Since going out on her own in 2018, DeVaux has improved her numbers each year. In 2024, she won her first Breeders’ Cup race and in 2025 she campaigned her first champion, the female turf horse She Feels Pretty. “Cherie and I have been friends for a long time,” Phipps Pulito said. “I really like her, I like her style, I like the way she’s very direct with me. I think she’s very honest with me. She works really hard and obviously, the last couple of years she’s done really well with both colts and fillies.” :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2026: Top contenders, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Golden Tempo did not make it to the races until Dec. 20, when he rallied from last to win a six-furlong maiden race at Fair Grounds. Four weeks later, he made the jump into a two-turn graded stakes, again rallying from last to win the Lecomte. Phipps Pulito said that Golden Tempo’s sprint victory “was a bit of a surprise. . . . We looked forward to stretching him out because with his pedigree, the longer he goes, he should keep getting better.” Phipps Pulito believes there are also better days ahead for the Phipps Stable. The 2-year-olds and yearlings of 2026 are by myriad stallions which include Flightline, Gun Runner, Not This Time, and Tapit. “We made a very concerted effort a couple of years ago to really breed to some good stallions and try to put Phipps Stable back in a very competitive position,” she said. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.