Derby Winner Golden Tempo Descends From Remarkable Mare

On the day her efforts to win the 2000 Frizette Stakes (G1) ended with race caller Tom Durkin reporting "Dancinginmydreams is being pulled up. Dancinginmydreams is being pulled up," plenty of onlookers said prayers. While her promising racing career ended that day, the caring connections who surrounded the Phipps Stable homebred—as well as her own determination—forged a new path to the sport's heights. Plenty of new chapters in Dancinginmydreams' story followed that dark October day at Belmont Park. They reached a crescendo this spring. Following her injury, the story of Dancinginmydreams first was one of survival and a shining example of how far equine surgery had progressed. In the months after the injury, she proved a calm, intelligent horse who, after life-saving surgeries, did her part in the recovery process. The human effort behind this story highlighted racing's commitment to its horses. That story would have been plenty—a memorable chapter in veterinary progress, committed horsemen, and an all-heart Thoroughbred finding survival. But Dancinginmydreams was just getting started. The daughter of Seeking the Gold soon made the transition to broodmare, where she produced grade 1 winner Dancing Forever. That milestone win arrived in 2008 and Dancinginmydreams' story shifted: the mare who didn't get to display her full talents on the track had passed them on to her progeny. Still bigger accolades were ahead. Like breeders had observed from other mares in her family, Dancinginmydreams continued to vigorously pass along her traits—stamping progeny with her considerable talent and intelligence. Some of those positive qualities were passed along to her daughter Castanet; then to Castanet's daughter Carrumba; and then Carrumba's son Golden Tempo, who last month won the Kentucky Derby (G1). Thriving at the classic distance he clearly desired, Golden Tempo rallied through the Kentucky Derby field and edged Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Renegade at the Churchill Downs wire. That Derby win ties the name of Dancinginmydreams to America's greatest race as the late mare is the third dam of Golden Tempo, a homebred for Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable. That Derby story is quite a long way from a sad day at the track more than a quarter century ago. While celebrating Golden Tempo in the winner's circle that evening at Churchill, it didn't take long for Daisy Phipps Pulito to think back to Dancinginmydreams and the Frizette of 2000. She thought about all the effort from her family, and so many others, to change one filly's narrative. "She was a real project for a really long time; keeping her happy and having her have a comfortable life, especially as a broodmare on that leg?" Pulito said in the key of incredulousness. "It's an amazing story, because Dancinginmydreams had an enormous amount of talent. Then to have Dancing Forever, who is a very nice horse, and Castanet, who was the dam of Carrumba. It's part of the Phipps legacy of breeding." Pulito emphasized it's a story that took a lot of people to make reality. That large group enjoyed smelling the roses after Golden Tempo reached the wire first in the Kentucky Derby. The 2026 Derby celebration proved a loud one at Steve and Linda Caddel's Caddel Equine Therapy Center near Georgetown, Ky., where Dancinginmydreams spent her broodmare career until her death in 2014. Pulito, who visited the mare at that farm over the years, specifically credited Linda Caddel's efforts and noted that she knew the mare better than anyone. "We were all in great jubilation," Linda Caddel said of watching Golden Tempo's Kentucky Derby win. Dancinginmydreams' story that once appeared headed toward racing's tales of what could have been, instead become a breeding success story at the sport's highest heights. "Dancinginmydreams beat all the odds," Caddel said. "We always said she had the disposition to let us do everything we needed to do." Dream Start In her Aug. 31, 2000, debut, Dancinginmydreams passed nine horses to rally from last to win a maiden special weight race going 7 furlongs at Saratoga Race Course. The memorable effort had connections and fans thinking big because the daughter of Seeking the Gold figured to only get better as she stretched out. Trainer Shug McGaughey saw enough to immediately bump her up to grade 1 competition in her next race. In that test, the Matron Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, Dancinginmydreams lost by a head to Raging Fever, but her talent showed again. Dancinginmydreams nearly overcame a 7-length deficit in the final furlong and just missed joining her full sister Oh What a Windfall as a winner of that 1-mile race for juvenile fillies. Bettors saw enough in the Matron—and in Dancinginmydreams' considerable pedigree—to make her the 6-5 favorite over Raging Fever as they stretched out a bit more in the 1 1/16-mile Frizette at Belmont, a race previously won by Dancinginmydreams' full sister, Heavenly Prize (Seeking the Gold—Oh What a Dance, by Nijinsky II) on her way to the Racing Hall of Fame. But unlike her sister, Dancinginmydreams' racing career would end in the Frizette. She suffered a fracture in her right hind leg just as she launched her move near the quarter pole. For a few agonizing moments it seemed the promising story of Dancinginmydreams would come to an end Oct. 15, 2000, at Belmont. But the appearance of a van on the track, as opposed to a screen, provided some small amount of hope. "She took a funny step while going wide on the turn, and Pat (Day) pulled her up in a hurry," Buzzy Tenney, an assistant to McGaughey, told BloodHorse in 2003. "When I got out there, her right back leg was cocked up and dangling. We put her in the ambulance and veterinarian Celeste Kunz gave her some medication to ease the pain. Another vet, Steve Selway, checked her out to see if there was any blood and luckily there wasn't. We ended up putting a brace on the leg." The actions of Racing Hall of Famer Day and initial care provided by the vets was the first of many interactions from people looking to ensure a path forward for Dancinginmydreams. The commitment of owner/breeder Ogden Phipps and his son Ogden "Dinny" Phipps was critical from that point and the weeks, months, and years that followed. On the day of the injury, Dinny received assurances that transporting his filly would not exacerbate the injury or cause additional pain. With those assurances from the vets, he approved a plan to ship Dancinginmydreams to the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center. The Phipps then turned to equine surgeon Larry Bramlage, who made sense as the go-to surgeon because years earlier he had performed an internal fixation surgery on Phipps homebred Personal Ensign, who had suffered a frontal plane fracture to a pastern in a hind leg in a workout that, oddly enough, had followed her victory in the 1986 Frizette. The injury occurred while she was preparing for a planned start in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). The surgery went so well that Personal Ensign returned to racing at 3 and completed a perfect career of 13 wins in as many starts capped by a victory over Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors in the 1988 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). In her first year of eligibility five years later, Personal Ensign entered the Racing Hall of Fame. "As it turned out, guardian angels were sitting on all our shoulders," Bramlage told BloodHorse in 2023 of that outcome. Dancinginmydreams had suffered a comminute fracture of the first phalanx. The injury required multiple surgeries and more extensive treatment than had been required for Personal Ensign. There would be no return to racing, but the efforts helped ensure her survival, and a broodmare career. At New Bolton, Dancinginmydreams was outfitted with a special external fixation device (developed by Dr. David Nunamaker of New Bolton) in which holes are drilled through the cannon bone and pins inserted to allow the horse to bear weight at that point rather than on the fracture lower in the limb. Five weeks later, the fixator was removed and a cast placed on the leg. As noted by BloodHorse in 2003, during her year-plus stay at New Bolton under the care of Dr. Tara Rabuffo, Dancinginmydreams underwent a total of five surgeries, and endured seven cast changes as well as a bone graft replacement. Screws were inserted to fuse (prevent movement of) the fetlock joint. In addition, Dancinginmydreams underwent acupuncture and massage therapy weekly. During her last three months, she was hand walked. The efforts brought some industry attention to New Bolton Center, which in 2006 captured national attention for its care of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro following his own hind leg injury in the Preakness Stakes (G1). Dancinginmydreams arrived back in Central Kentucky in November 2001 and was sent to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital near Lexington. When she was ready for a move to the farm, instead of sending her to Claiborne Farm, where the Phipps family boards its mares, Bramlage suggested she be sent to the Caddels who specialize in providing extra care for horses coming back from injury. Linda Caddel recalled some of the significant initial challenges upon her arrival. "The big thing was keeping her safe," Caddel said June 1. "She had gone 14 months without much real physical activity so her bone density... you could read the newspaper through her x-ray on her bones." What had been short walks at New Bolton were extended at the farm. More movement was gradually added at her new home while keeping weight off of the repaired leg. One long walk turned into two long walks, and so on. As Dancinginmydreams built her muscle and bone density, the challenge for the farm changed. Suddenly, the Caddels had on their hands an energetic 3-year-old filly who still had a concerning leg injury. "I remember we let her go in the round pen one day and she started bucking and playing," Caddel said. "I remember talking with Dr. Bramlage and he said, 'Oh, that's not good.'" The farm kept a close eye on Dancinginmydreams and eventually she was in good enough condition to be bred. The decision was made to keep her at the Caddels' farm for foaling. Her first foal, Dancing Forever, by Rahy, arrived in February 2003. Pulito visited Dancing Forever a month after his birth. While he didn't start at 2, and won just a single race at 3, patient handling from McGaughey helped Dancing Forever succeed as an older runner. He won a stakes in his 4-year-old season before securing a grade 1 win at 5 in the 2008 Manhattan Handicap (G1T) at Belmont. "I remember Shug saying it took a while for Dancing Forever to figure out the racing," Linda Caddel said. Fine Family With the decision made to have Dancinginmydreams stay at Caddel Equine Therapy Center—decreasing stress on the mare while keeping attentive, familiar eyes on her—she continued delivering promising foals. In March 2006, she produced Castanet, a gray or roan daughter of El Prado who earned a placing in a pair of starts. After her short racing career, Castanet joined the broodmare band at Claiborne but, after an injury at the farm, was returned to Caddel Equine Therapy Center for the same attentiveness the farm had provided her dam. Because of this turn of events, the Caddels' farm also foaled Golden Tempo's dam Carrumba in 2012. Carrumba soon forged her way into the hearts of the Phipps family with her on-track performance, providing some good news during a difficult time. On the track, she showed that her equine family's talent continued to flow. She captured the 2016 Top Flight Invitational Handicap (G3) at 4 and placed in seven other graded stakes, including, appropriately enough, the 2016 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1). "The Top Flight was supposed to be a week earlier," Pulito said of an April race postponed for a week because of high winds on the initial date. "She was supposed to run that race while my father was in the hospital dying of pancreatic cancer. We were all in the hospital with him. "They had to delay the race though and he died four days later. She was the first Phipps Stable horse to run and win after his passing. She's always going to have an extra special space in my heart." Sadly, Castanet was lost in 2013 because of complications from foaling Dancing All Night, a daughter of Parading who went on to be a winning filly. Castanet is buried at the Caddels' farm. The bad news continued the following year when Dancinginmydreams died. The Phipps offered to have her buried at the Caddels' farm as well, but Linda responded that she preferred a resting place at the famed Claiborne for Dancinginmydreams. "This is the kind of people the Phipps are," Caddel said. "They had just lost their mare, but they were thinking about us." After 70 years of racing and breeding horses, Ogden Phipps died at the age of 93 in 2002. As mentioned, Dinny passed in 2016 at the age of 75, three years after he captured the Kentucky Derby with Orb, raced in partnership with his cousin Stuart Janney III. While the Phipps family did not ask for a specific reward for their efforts with Dancinginmydreams, they continue to arrive. Sadly, like her late husband Dinny, Andrea Phipps was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year. Pulito said Golden Tempo's Dec. 20 maiden win at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots made him the first Phipps horse to run and win after that diagnosis. The Curlin son of the beloved Carrumba provided a moment to rally around. More were to come. Pulito and brother Ogden Phipps II celebrated the Derby victory in the winner's circle. While their mother wasn't able to make the trip, they talked with Andrea by phone after the race. She delighted in the victory. "The one person that is not here today, that I just want to recognize, is our mother, who’s back at home watching," Ogden Phipps II said after the Derby win. "We all got a chance to talk to her right after the race. We were here, obviously, with my dad 13 years ago, and really because of the two of them, we have kept this going. We're very thankful we did." For Caddel, the losses of Dancinginmydreams and Castanet still sting, but the successes provide plenty of joy. Those successes are not all tied to Kentucky Derby wins. Classic races stir the soul and Caddel looks forward to Golden Tempo's next start June 6 in the Belmont Stakes (G1) at Saratoga, but there's also joy from working with a family such as the Phippses, seeing progress while caring for injured horses, and doing what you love. Caddel will tell you this as she rides Dancinginmydreams' final foal around her farm. The son of Kitten's Joy was unable to race but Caddel kept him as a riding pony that she named OP. He's also one of those success stories. "It's funny because I talked to Daisy about it and she said that I'm always the optimist so I wanted to name him OP for Optimist and also for Opie from Andy Griffith's Mayberry," Caddel said. She recalled that conversation and noted that while she was speaking to Pulito another meaning of "O.P." occurred to her. "I said, 'He's also O.P. for your dad.' And Daisy added, 'and for my grandfather.'" In the days after this year's Kentucky Derby while riding OP around her farm, Caddel thought of conversations she once shared with Dancinginmydreams; morning talks with an injured horse after a promising racing career had ended. These were words shared before Dancing Forever had "figured out" racing. These conversations reverberated off otherwise quiet barn walls a quarter of a century before Golden Tempo's unforgettable run through the Churchill Downs stretch. "I would be in her stall with her," Caddel said. "And I would say, 'One day, they're going to hear your name again.'"