Racing Still Family Affair for Pulito, Phipps Siblings

When Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps died in April 2016, it was a time of overwhelming grief and sorrow for the Phipps family. It also brought one of Thoroughbred racing's most famed stables to a crossroads. Phipps, a longtime The Jockey Club and New York Racing Association leader, ran Phipps Stable, following in the illustrious footsteps of his grandmother, Gladys Mills Phipps, a founder of Wheatley Stable, the family's first racing stable, and his father, Ogden Phipps, who built a highly prosperous racing and breeding operation under his own name. It then fell to his widow, Andrea, and four children to determine the future of Phipps Stables. The siblings ultimately agreed to team with their mother and downsize the stable while continuing its racing operations and a breeding program that featured some of the sport's most prized bloodlines. Ogden Phipps II agreed to handle the business end of the stable and from his three sisters (Daisy Phipps Pulito, Lilly Caldwell, and Samantha Alvarez) and it was Pulito, a Kentucky resident, who stepped up to handle the day-to-day operations. "We are a family with very strong women and we're proud of it," said Phipps II, a member of NYRA's board of directors since 2018. "There was so much more pressure on Daisy from a day-to-day basis because she was on the frontline with the decisions of who to breed to, where the horses go. At the end of the day, she loves horses and loves the sport in general. She was there in Kentucky, which is an enormous part of our operation with the broodmares, foals, and yearlings there. We needed a hands-on approach and she was ready, willing, and able to do it and has done a great job." Considerable pressure fell on Pulito's shoulders, but it was a wise decision as Pulito's love of the sport and the horses and her deep beliefs in family traditions and values made her the perfect choice. "It's a lot of pressure," Pulito said. "I know what Phipps Stable means to the industry, and to the fans, and to my family. So there's always pressure. There was a reduction of the horses but we try to run it the same way. We try to keep the bloodlines intact and try to improve on them." On May 2, 2026, that choice became Golden. That was when Golden Tempo, owned and bred by Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable from a Phipps mare, captured the 152nd Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs, bringing the Phipps family back to the top rungs of the racing world. "That was the best day of my life, career-wise. I am really proud of that accomplishment," Pulito said. "We only have 11 horses in training, and to win the Kentucky Derby with one of them is such an incredible thrill." Though it was the stable's second Run for the Roses victory with a homebred, making this one supremely satisfying was that it resulted from the work of a fourth generation of the Phipps family to enter the sport. In 2013, when Orb won the Kentucky Derby, Dinny Phipps was at the helm of the stable and the colt was co-owned and co-bred by his cousin, former The Jockey Club chairman Stuart Janney III, whose colors the son of Malibu Moon wore in his Triple Crown win. This time, it was a new generation of a racing dynasty that celebrated the classic win, which came with jockey Jose Ortiz wearing the famed black silks and cherry cap that Phipps stars such as Easy Goer, Seeking the Gold, Personal Ensign, and My Flag wore in their numerous grade 1 wins. "It's been amazing. We won the Derby before with my father and Stuart Janney, but they ran the stable then. This is very different and I'm so proud Golden Tempo won in the Phipps silks," Pulito said about a Triple Crown win that came 100 years after the founding of Wheatley Stable. "My great-grandmother, my grandfather, my father, they all worked really hard to improve the industry and they loved their horses. So to win the world's biggest race with Jose wearing the Phipps Stable silks on a homebred is something that means a great deal to me." Though Pulito is responsible for a lion's share of the stable's ability to survive and thrive, she's not one to embrace credit for it. Ask her about the decision to breed the Phipps' grade 1-placed Bernardini mare Carrumba, who represents five generations of Phipps breeding, to Curlin, the mating that produced Golden Tempo. In an instant, she will point out the important role played in the process by Walker Hancock and Bradley Purcell, the president and farm manager, respectively, at Claiborne Farm, which has been a key partner with the Phippses for more than 75 years and is home to most of the stable's 16 mares. It was also Pulito who formed a partnership with Vinnie and Teresa Viola of St. Elias when Phipps Stable bought a portion of St. Elias' share of the Phipps-bred Dynamic One prior to the grade 2-winning colt's debut in 2020. That association blossomed and led to a solid friendship and a breeding partnership in which St. Elias can retain a share of colts bred by Phipps Stable. "The Violas have enjoyed it immensely," said Monique Delk, executive director of racing operations for St. Elias, about the bond between the Viola and Phipps families. "They had a good friendship before they became partners, and there's mutual respect for each other's values. They are family-based operations. They enjoy racing together. They agree on managing the horses and exit strategies as well. We retire the horses to New Vocations. "At the end of the day, Vinnie and Teresa want to have fun with no stress, and this fits all of that criteria. They were friends first. They are both family-based and there's a lot of mutual respect that makes it a really, really good partnership." Pulito also pushed for Cherie DeVaux to train Golden Tempo, knowing, as she says, "I don't think there's a job in this sport that a man does that a woman can't do." "Each generation opens the door for the next, and the Phipps women have been trailblazers," Delk said. "I hope we can continue to do that. That lineage raised strong women and very smart women that did not just want to sit back and watch. They wanted to be involved and participate in the sport. That's where Daisy's passion comes from. She saw women doing things to help her and she is trying to do the same things for the next generation of women." That family-oriented stables like the ones operated by the Phippses and Violas would click is hardly a surprise, especially with someone as modest and low-key as the 53-year-old Pulito in the mix. She treasures the family she has built with her husband, David, while raising two teenage boys. In recent years, a typical day has consisted of driving her children to school, watching her horses train, and picking up the boys at school and spending the rest of the day trying to be the best mother/wife/racing owner possible. "She's a very down-to-earth person and that's been an advantage with the stable," her brother, Phipps II, said. "She's not an owner who believes she's above everything. She wants to learn everything she can and has immersed herself in all aspects of the sport. That's critically important in making the right decisions." What Pulito is enjoying most is the way Golden Tempo has evoked the same kind of passion in the family's youngest members as watching her grandfather's and father's champions did in her and her siblings. There were some hard times following the transition after her father's death, with just four graded stakes wins under only the stable name and a few others in partnerships. But after Golden Tempo won the Lecomte Stakes (G3) in his second career start to emerge as a Kentucky Derby candidate for DeVaux, the family's passion for racing was rejuvenated. "When Orb won, my kids were in diapers and then we had some lean years. But now we have a family group chat with videos and messages and we are all fired up about the races," Pulito said. "When my siblings and I walked down the shedrow, it was Murderer's Row, and at the Derby our kids got to experience what we experienced for so many years when we were that age. It built a love for the sport in us. Now they are experiencing that feeling and developing the same love for the horses and the sport." Enjoying every possible moment with her loved ones has a deep, personal meaning for Pulito. Having survived two surgeries for breast cancer and a mastectomy, Pulito understands how precious family time can be. "I had breast cancer and I've had the gift of knowing there's a clock on time," said Pulito, who has been cancer-free for nine years. "I cherish doing the things I love. I get to spend a lot of time with my family and my horses and enjoying my family's racing stable. When we won the Kentucky Derby, all of those things were wrapped into that. My family was there and we won the Kentucky Derby with good friends and partners." Up next for Golden Tempo will be the June 6 Belmont Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, following the connections' decision to skip running in the Preakness Stakes (G1) on two weeks' rest and give up a chance for a Triple Crown sweep. Weeks later, Pulito has no regrets about a move that reignited a debate about the spacing of the Triple Crown races. "Golden Tempo is doing unbelievable," Pulito said. "He's come out of the Kentucky Derby really, really well. But we don't normally run a horse back in two weeks and neither does Cherie. The Preakness is a shorter distance and he obviously likes a longer distance. So, we just thought it was in the best interest of the horse to wait for the Belmont Stakes." So now a new generation of the Phipps family will come together at the Spa, hoping to see Golden Tempo emulate what happened in 1989 when Ogden Phipps' homebred Easy Goer gave the stable its lone Belmont Stakes win. Pulito was as old as her oldest son back then and she hopes a circle of racing life will continue. "I've been at the last two Belmonts at Saratoga and they were fantastic. I had so much fun. It's so great up there and it will be fantastic to share the experience with everyone," Pulito said. "I can't wait."