The First halter
The First Halter
Quillin Leather & Tack, Claiborne Farm, and the 2026 Kentucky Derby winner who started life six minutes from our front door.
Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby last Saturday. He came from dead last, passed every horse on the track, and put Bourbon County in the winner's circle for the 11th time in Claiborne Farm's 100-year history.
His first halter came from our shop on Main Street in Paris.
Where He Started
Golden Tempo was born and raised at Claiborne Farm — a few miles from 716 Main Street, the same address Quillin Leather & Tack has occupied since 1982. When he was a foal, Claiborne put one of our custom halters on him. That's how it works out here. The farms surrounding Paris have been coming to us for tack since we opened our doors, and we've been making it right for them ever since.
Claiborne is one of the great thoroughbred farms in America. Secretariat stood there. He's buried there. Golden Tempo's dam, Carrumba, carries Secretariat's blood and still grazes on those 3,000 acres — the only gray mare in her pasture. His sire, Curlin, stands just up the road at Hill 'n' Dale Farm in Paris. This horse is Bourbon County through and through.
So is our leather.
What This County Produces
Bourbon County has been producing exceptional things for a long time. The limestone water here filters into the soil, grows the bluegrass that builds strong bones in young horses, and goes into the bourbon that made this region famous. The farms in and around Paris have been breeding and raising racehorses since the late 1700s. That tradition is still alive — Golden Tempo is proof of it.
Quillin is part of that same tradition. We're not a farm and we don't raise racehorses, but we share the same values as the people who do. You don't cut corners on a halter that's going to hold a 1,200-pound thoroughbred. You don't rush work that has to be right. You use good leather, skilled hands, and equipment that's proven itself over time. We run century-old Campbell stitcher machines in our shop because they do the job better than anything that's come along to replace them.
The thoroughbred industry figured out a long time ago that there's no substitute for that kind of commitment. So did we.
The Race
Trainer Cherie DeVaux made history Saturday as the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner. She trusted the horse even when his prep races didn't go perfectly, kept the process steady, and he delivered.
Farm manager Bradley Purcell, who watched Golden Tempo grow up at Claiborne, said he was a big, strong horse from day one. Never a problem. Did everything right.
He came from last place. He passed every horse in the field. And that night, Purcell went out to the pasture and gave Carrumba some peppermints.
She earned them.
What We Do Every Day
Quillin Leather & Tack has been making custom halters in Paris, Kentucky since 1982. Sixteen craftsmen. More than 17,000 halters a year, handmade and shipped to thoroughbred farms and racing operations across the country and around the world. The farms that show up in the Kentucky Derby winner's circle year after year — they know where to get their tack.
We're proud of that. And we're proud that Golden Tempo, before anybody outside Bourbon County knew his name, wore a Quillin halter in his first days on earth.
Congratulations to Claiborne Farm, to Cherie DeVaux, and to everyone connected to this horse. He's a Bourbon County horse, raised right, and he ran like it.
Ralph Quillin • [email protected] • 859-621-3365
Quillin Leather & Tack — 716 Main Street, Paris, Kentucky. Est. 1982.
