The decision is still the horse's. Cherie DeVaux had Golden Tempo on his third walk day at Keeneland on Tuesday and scheduled light jogs for the track on May 6 and 7, with galloping resuming Friday May 8 — eight days before a possible Preakness start at Laurel Park on May 16 [1]. Tuesday's read named the female-trainer first and the decision math. The Wednesday read names the prep window that remains open.

DeVaux told reporters Monday she would "try to make a decision by the end of the week" [2]. The Preakness draw is set for Monday May 11. Sixteen horses are on the Maryland Jockey Club's list of possibles for the 14-horse field; only Golden Tempo carries the Derby field's silks [3]. Renegade and Chief Wallabee are heading to Saratoga. Bill Mott, who skipped the Preakness with last year's Derby winner Sovereignty, has not changed his methodology.

The handicap reading is harder than the calendar. Golden Tempo is a deep closer by Curlin out of a Bernardini mare — bred for distance, not the 1 3/16-mile Preakness. DeVaux herself has flagged the pattern: her colt's previous start before the Derby came after six weeks of rest, not two. "He's a horse that has a lot of constitution to him, so he can handle something like that," she said Sunday at Churchill Downs. "But if one day he just doesn't look like he's in tip-top shape, we'll pivot and come up with another plan" [4].

The pivot is the Belmont. June 6 at Saratoga, on a 1 1/4-mile track, in a year when the Belmont's renovation has compressed the schedule into temporary venues. DeVaux, the Triple Crown's second-ever female-trained classic winner after Jena Antonucci's 2023 Belmont with Arcangelo, can walk to either prize. The horse will tell her which one Friday.

-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos