Forte to get his chance as early favorite in Belmont Stakes
Forte is finally getting a crack at running in a Triple Crown race. The colt, who was scratched the day of the Kentucky Derby, is the early favorite for the Belmont Stakes.
Forte, last year's 2-year-old champion, was made the slight 5-2 favorite Tuesday for the grueling 11/2-mile race.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, the colt will break from the No. 6 post in the nine-horse field on Saturday at Belmont Park.
Pletcher's other horse, Tapit Trice, is the 3-1 second choice and drew the No. 2 post. He finished seventh in the Derby.
“He's got a big, long stride on him,” Pletcher said. “If we can get him into a good position and into a good rhythm, I think he's going to like the mile-and-a-half. He's been training that way.”
Forte was the early Derby favorite, but was scratched by Kentucky officials the morning of the May 6 race because of a bruised right foot. He was on a vets' list that kept him out of the Preakness, but has since come off it.
“He's doing great, he's training really well. He hasn't missed any training,” said Mike Repole, co-owner of Forte. “We still think this is the best 3-year-old in the crop and on Saturday he's going to prove that.”
Angel of Empire is the third choice at 7-2 and will wear blinkers to keep him focused. He finished third in the Derby and is one of three horses in the race trained by Brad Cox.
National Treasure, the Preakness winner trained by Bob Baffert, is 5-1. He drew the No. 4 post.
Arcangelo is 8-1 and will break from the No. 3 post. He is trained by Jena Antonucci, who will try to become the first woman trainer to win the Belmont.
NFL Two Browns players safe after robbery at gunpoint
Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski expressed relief that two of his players were not physically harmed while being robbed at gunpoint by six masked men outside a downtown nightclub.
According to Cleveland Police, the players had jewelry and a truck taken during the early morning stickup.
Police redacted the names of the players in a field case report. However, a person familiar with the situation identified the players as cornerback Greg Newsome II and tackle Perrion Winfrey.
The Browns opened mandatory minicamp Tuesday. After the workout, Stefanski said he has spoken to Chief Wayne Drummond.
“I'm glad our guys are OK,” he said. “I want all of our community to be safe. The Cleveland Police have been outstanding. We want everybody to be safe and we want to get violent people off of our streets.”
According to the report, one of the players was returning to his truck in a parking lot at 3:30 a.m. Monday when the masked suspects jumped out of a car and robbed him of jewelry before fleeing in his vehicle. The player told police he was not injured.
Newsome, a starting cornerback drafted by the Browns in the first round in 2021 from Northwestern, posted Monday night, “It's a cruel world we live in” on Twitter.
• What was once routine for Damar Hamlin, such as pulling on a helmet and heading out to practice, has become something the Buffalo Bills safety celebrated with a phone call to his parents.
That was the case last week, general manager Brandon Beane said, after Hamlin participated fully in practice for the first time in the six months since having a near-death experience during a game at Cincinnati.
“Just so proud of him and thrilled for where he's at in his journey,” Beane said.
“He's still got more milestones to hit. But to think back, we're just at the beginning of June, and that was the beginning of January, and we were just hoping he'd live,” he added. “Now he's not only got a normal life, but we're talking about playing not just any football, but NFL football.”
The Bills practice Tuesday was the first in which reporters were allowed to see Hamlin take part in various team drills. Beane said Hamlin enjoyed his first full session on May 31, in a practice that was closed to reporters, after which the player called his parents in Pittsburgh.
Hamlin had previously been limited to taking part in individual drills and the stretching portions of practice since the Bills' series of spring voluntary sessions opened on May 22. The 25-yearold has made it his objective to resume his football career after going into cardiac arrest and needing to be resuscitated on the field after making what appeared to be a routine tackle during a game against the Bengals on Jan. 2.
The frightening collapse led to the game being eventually canceled by the NFL, and had Hamlin spending 10 days recovering and being monitored in hospitals in Cincinnati and Buffalo.
MISCELLANY Sparks blow 21-point lead, suffer tough loss in Seattle
Jewell Loyd had 25 points and eight rebounds and the Storm rallied from a 21-point first-half deficit to beat the Sparks 66-63 in Seattle.
Seattle avenged a 92-85 loss to the Sparks on Saturday with the second-largest comeback victory in franchise history.
The Sparks re-signed guard Karlie Samuelson to a contract for the remainder of the season.
• Marquette basketball coach Shaka Smart received a contract extension after leading the Golden Eagles to their first outright regular-season championship and tournament title in the Big East. Smart's contract now runs through the 2029-30 season. This is the first extension Smart has received since signing a six-year deal when he took over as Marquette's coach in 2021. Marquette didn't release financial terms of Smart's deal.