Forte pulls away to win Juvenile
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Forte’s last start over a mile was impressive enough that trainer Todd Pletcher wasn’t too shocked at what he achieved in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, or the way he did it.
Forte served notice as an early Kentucky Derby favorite, rallying from midpack to overtake Cave Rock and win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by 1½ lengths on Friday at Keeneland. His fourth victory in five starts comes just over a month after he won the Breeders’ Futurity at the track by a neck.
Pletcher’s colt went off as a 4-1 choice in the 1
1⁄16-mile race but had work to do running in the middle on the backstretch. Forte quickly made his charge through the 10horse field and got off the rail to close in on Bob Baffert-trained Cave Rock, the 4-5 favorite, and the leaders by the final turn.
“The last time, he made the lead pretty comfortably,” Pletcher said of Forte. “But he got to waiting and laying on the horse next to him, so today, if we were lucky enough to get in a position to get (the lead), we wanted to give ourselves plenty of space and not get close to the horse next to him.”
Forte turned it on entering the stretch, racing past Cave Rock at the eighth pole to claim his third consecutive victory as a 2year-old, perhaps solidifying his credentials for Horse of the Year honors. Mike Repole, whose stable co-owns the horse with Florida Panthers owner Vincent Viola, was giddy over his good fortune, just five months after he won the Belmont Stakes with Mo Donegal.
“My whole family thinks you just show up and you win a Grade 1 (race) and that that’s normal,” he said. “I’m not fooled about how blessed I am that this is happening.”
Saturday features the eight-horse, $6 million Grade 1 Classic and is the marquee event among nine second-day stakes races at Keeneland. Flightline is the 3-5 favorite.
Preceding the Classic is the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf with nine foreign-trained horses among 13 entrants. Nations Pride is the 7-2 choice and leads seven Irish horses, with Master Piece (China) and Nautilus (Brazil) also in the field.