Mike Repole | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mike Repole Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

Four days after his Forte (Violence) won the GII Fountain of Youth S. in his 3-year-old debut, co-owner Mike Repole was still beaming. At this point, Forte's lead-up to the GI Kentucky Derby has been perfect. There have been no hiccups and his race in the Fountain of Youth checked every conceivable box. So what did Repole, who owns the horse in partnership with Vinnie Viola, think? We had Repole join us on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to find out. Repole was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

“The script you write never works out,” Repole said. “But the way things have turned out with Forte, I couldn't have written that script any better. We just got his Ragozin number, which was a 7 3/4, which was the lowest number of his career off a four-month layoff. So it's always a promising sign. You don't really know who the competition was in the race. But he hadn't raced in four months and all those horses had starts either four weeks ago or eight weeks ago. So everything really worked out.”

That Repole and Viola have a horse like Forte is no accident. They have spent millions at the sales acquiring dozens of horses. Forte, who cost $110,000, was one of 43 yearlings they bought at the 2021 Keeneland September sale. Over the last two years at Keeneland, they have spent $30 million on 75 horses. Repole acknowledged that their way of attacking the sales only works if you can come up with a couple of stars.

“When you buy 100 horses, if you can get 2% of them to be Grade I winners, you're going to pay for the whole crop,” Repole said. “Now, it sounds easy, but you need to find a Nest and you need a Forte. It is very difficult. But I think I play at all different levels. And listen, I don't want to give away a secret here, but. I'm aggressive.”

Repole made some news during the interview, revealing that his preference is that Forte run as a 4-year-old. He said he would not enter into an agreement for Forte with a stud farm unless they agreed to give him an option to run the horse next year.

“I have to have an option to run him at four, whether we do or not,” he said. “It has to be that I get to choose, and everybody knows that's the plan. Let's be honest, we don't know if he's going to or not. In this sport, we don't even know that he's going to have a next start. But I have to have that option.”

As for Nest (Curlin), the 3-year-old filly champion of 2022 that Repole owns along with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Repole said she will make her 4-year-old debut in the GI La Troienne S. on April 5 at Churchill Downs.

“We gave her time off and she's grown up and she's developed,” Repole said. “We all know what happens with Curlin's between three and four. It's hard to think this way, but she might even be better this year.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore,https://lanesend.com/ the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Woodford Thoroughbreds, The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, XBTV, 1/st Racing, WinStar Farm and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley took a look back at a big weekend of racing that included the Fountain of Youth S., the GII San Felipe S. and the GI Santa Anita H. and a look ahead to the GII Tampa Bay Derby. The subject of Alex Canchari's suicide brought about an important discussion of how jockeys best deal with mental health issues. Canchari's death came six week after jockey Avery Whisman also took his own life. Cadman, a former rider, pointed out that both jockeys were not actively riding at the time of their deaths and said that down time can be difficult for any rider. Finley raised the issue of whether or not it's time to allow jockeys to ride at slightly heavier weights, but Cadman and Moss both maintained that would not solve any problems.

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Taking Stock: Pletcher on the Curlins

Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher is on fire, unveiling one promising colt or filly after another in maiden, allowance, and stakes races it seems.

Last month, Pletcher won his eighth Eclipse Award as North America's leading trainer. Not only that, but three horses trained by Pletcher also won Eclipses: Forte (Violence), champion 2-year-old colt; Nest (Curlin), champion 3-year-old filly; and Malathaat (Curlin), champion older female.

Like Pletcher, Curlin shone at the Eclipses. Aside from Nest and Malathaat, his Elite Power was named champion sprinter of 2022, giving the Hill 'n' Dale-based stallion three individual Eclipse winners in one year, the first time any stallion has had more than two in a year.

Curlin and Pletcher, in case it wasn't evident, have a special long-term relationship. On Saturday, the promising Pletcher-trained Julia Shining (Curlin), a Grade ll-winning 3-year-old sister to Malathaat owned and bred by Stonestreet, finished third in her season debut in the one-mile-and-40-yard Suncoast S. at Tampa Bay Downs, 1 1/4 lengths behind 2-year-old champion Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief), who in turn was a neck behind 38-1 upsetter Dreaming of Snow (Jess's Dream), a granddaughter of Curlin. This Saturday, Pletcher saddles Crupi (Curlin) in the Gll Risen Star S. at Fair Grounds for Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable. Crupi is a maiden; he has placed in each of his five starts, but like Julia Shining, who won the Gll Demoiselle at 1 1/8 miles last year, he figures to improve as the year progresses and the distances increase. That's simply a function of the Curlins.

I spoke to Pletcher about this recently, and he said, “Curlin is my favorite stallion I didn't train. We're big Curlin fans.”

Pletcher has trained a number of prominent stallions throughout his career, including More Than Ready, Scat Daddy, Quality Road, Uncle Mo, Speightstown, and Munnings, among others. There isn't another modern-day trainer with such a striking record as a stallion maker. None of these stallions, however, regularly imparts stamina in the pronounced manner that Curlin does. And many of the better Curlins frequently get even more stamina in their pedigrees from their broodmare sires, because the stallion nicks so well with Seattle Slew-line mares. Both Nest and Malathaat (and Julia Shining), for instance, are from A.P. Indy mares; Crupi, who was bred by Claiborne, is from a mare by A.P. Indy's top sire son Malibu Moon, the sire of Gl Kentucky Derby winner Orb. (Skinner, a promising maiden winner from over the weekend for John Shirreffs, is also from a Malibu Moon mare and was bred by Stonestreet.) In different hands, the Curlin sons and daughters that have excelled with Pletcher may not have realized their potential. They have with Pletcher because he understands pedigrees and specifically knows how the Curlins tick.

“A lot of our training program builds toward stamina,” Pletcher said. “I don't think [the Curlins] want to be rushed off their feet. We always feel like you want to let a horse be comfortable, and if you're trying to take them out of their comfort zone early on, then you're probably not going to finish the way you want to. We would expect them, hopefully, to put themselves in a tactical position, but you wouldn't see too many of them going wire to wire. We've recognized that, for whatever reason, he fits our program well.”

Pletcher's Curlins

Curlin, a son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Smart Strike, has been represented by six Eclipse winners to date, and Pletcher has handled three of them. In addition to Nest and Malathaat, he also trained Vino Rosso, champion older male of 2019.

Though the Curlins aren't especially noted for early maturity and front-running speed, the best of them have plenty of class, are seemingly Classics contenders every year, improve with time, and are particularly adept at a mile and a sixteenth and above on dirt. That's because Curlin, a two-time Horse of the Year, was a Classic winner and a mile-and-a-quarter specialist who also stayed a mile and a half on dirt (he lost the Gl Belmont S. by a head to the Pletcher-trained A.P. Indy filly Rags to Riches, who, like Curlin, was out of a mare by Deputy Minister). In fact, it was notable and surprising that in 2022 Curlin got a champion sprinter and two others, Cody's Wish and Obligatory, that won Grade l races at seven furlongs. Both Cody's Wish, who won the Gl Forego at Saratoga, and Obligatory, first in the Gl Derby City Distaff at Churchill, won their respective sprints by closing from the back of the pack.

Bill Mott trained the trio of Elite Power, Cody's Wish, and Obligatory, and before them he'd trained Gl Coaching Club American Oaks winner Paris Lights, giving him four of Curlin's 20 top-level winners.

Only Pletcher has more, and then some. He has trained an astounding eight of the 20, or 40% Grade l winners. Aside from champions Nest, Malathaat, and Vino Rosso, Pletcher handled Belmont S. and Gl Metropolitan H. winner Palace Malice, who was from Curlin's first crop; Gl Florida Derby winner Known Agenda; the fillies Curalina, who won the Coaching Club American Oaks, and Off the Tracks, winner of the Gl Mother Goose. Keen Ice, who won the Gl Travers for Dale Romans, won the Gll Suburban at a mile and a quarter for Pletcher.

I asked Pletcher if there is a common physical thread among the Curlins.

“I think yes and no,” he said. “I do think there are some similarities in the good ones, that they're medium–at least medium–to larger size. Some of them can tend to be a little bit small, and we've found that the better ones maybe have a little more size and scope, but in terms of a particular conformational prototype, I don't know that there is. Keen Ice was a big strong horse, and so is Palace Malice. Off the Tracks was a very talented filly, but conformationally she was very, very incorrect but was able to overcome that with good mechanics. Malathaat is a scopey, long mare; Curalina was a little more refined, but she was impressive as a 2-year-old; Nest is not real big, but she's one of the best walkers I've seen. For a filly that's probably just over 15.3, she covers a lot of ground. There is an athletic component to the good ones, and in particular, I'd say Nest would stand out as an outstanding walker.”

Pletcher also noted that some of the Curlins may show talent in workouts that takes some time to translate to races.

“Known Agenda reminded me a lot of Vino Rosso in that way. If we hadn't had the setback that ultimately made them decide to retire him to stud, Known Agenda was going to be a good 4-year-old. As a younger horse, he would display more talent sometimes in the mornings than we were producing in the afternoons. But then he kind of put it together in the Florida Derby, and I thought if we'd had a chance to go on with him, we would have seen him get more consistent. I'm not saying he would have won the Breeders' Cup Classic like Vino, but he had that sort of potential.”

Mike Repole's Repole Stable, which co-owns Nest with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House, raced Vino Rosso in partnership with Vinnie and Teresa Viola's St. Elias Stable, which bred and raced Known Agenda. Both Repole and Viola are billionaire patrons of Pletcher, and they race Forte, the current Derby favorite, in partnership as well. However, they know the value of the Curlins and their trainer's ability with them, and they've loaded up on more sons and daughters of the stallion to send Pletcher's way. Last September at Keeneland, the two combined to sign for two fillies at $650,000 and $450,000, and two colts at $400,000 each. Meanwhile Repole, in partnership with Coolmore, bought a colt for $1.1 million, and in another partnership with Spendthrift bought a colt for $525,000. For his own account, Repole then purchased another five with agent Jacob West signing the tickets: three fillies for $675,000, $500,000, and $250,000; and two colts for $320,000 and $275,000.

So be prepared to see even more Curlins in Pletcher's hands this year, and not just from Repole and Viola. Stonestreet, which raced Curlin with Steve Asmussen and is the stallion's majority owner, campaigns Grade l winner Clairiere with Asmussen, but the operation sent Julia Shining to Pletcher instead of Asmussen, presumably because of Pletcher's success with her Grade l-winning dam, Dreaming of Julia (A.P. Indy), and with her champion sister Malathaat, but also for his sterling record with their stallion.

Pletcher is a maestro with the Curlins.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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$400,000 Lemieux Provides Icing on Steady Fasig-Tipton Winter Sale

LEXINGTON, KY-The Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale went through its supplemental catalogue and into its addendum to finally find its top-priced offering when Lemieux (Nyquist) sold to Nice Guys Stable for $400,000 just hips before the auction concluded its two-day run Tuesday in Lexington with steady results.

“We saw a continuation of the marketplace that we experienced yesterday and that we saw in January and we saw in November, October, September and July,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. said at the sale's close Tuesday. “I think it's a very fair marketplace. I think that if you are trying to buy horses, the horses that you want to buy, you generally have to pay more than you wanted to. When you are selling horses, if you've got quality, you are probably getting around what you thought, maybe a little more. But there is no euphoria. If you are trying to sell on the lower end, it's tough. It's been tough the last 10 years. And the reality is that that's the marketplace. But if we had 50 more good ones to lead through in here right now, they'd be lined up in here to bid on them and buy them.”

Through two sessions, 402 head sold for $14,105,200. The average of $35,088 was down 12.3% from last year's figure, while the median of $15,000 was down 6.3%. With 65 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 13.9%. It was 11.5% a year ago.

An initial catalogue of 465 lots was bolstered by a supplemental catalogue of 121 head, to which was added eight additional entries in an addendum. Stakes-winner Lemieux sold seven hips from the end of the auction, with bloodstock agent John Williams making a final bid of $400,000 to acquire the 4-year-old filly on behalf of Nice Guys Stable.

The filly, whose half-sister Brilliant Cut (Speightstown) topped the 2022 Winter Mixed sale, was one of 15 horses to sell for $200,000 or over during the auction. Fourteen hit that mark in 2022.

“If you look at a global, or big picture standpoint, the ability to create liquidity helps every marketplace,” Browning said of the importance of being able to add horses with current form as supplements to a catalogue. “It allows people to turn assets into dollars and then hopefully reinvest those dollars into similar or like kind of assets along the way.”

Lemieux Keeps the Family Tradition Going

Stakes-winner Lemieux (Nyquist) (hip 588), whose half-sister Brilliant Cut (Speightstown) topped the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale, brought the highest price of the 2023 renewal of the auction when selling for $400,000 to the bid of John Williams, acting as agent for Steve Spielman's Nice Guys Stables. The 4-year-old broodmare prospect was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

“She is a lovely mare and quite a standout in this catalogue,” Williams said. “The man I bought her for is continuing to improve his broodmare band and this is the kind of filly that could do that.”

Racing for D J Stable and trainer Mark Casse, Lemieux won the 2021 Brethren Juvenile Fillies S. She won twice from 10 starts and earned $140,216 before RNA'ing for $300,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale.

Lemieux is out of Polish a Diamond, a half-sister to multiple Grade I winner Diamondrella (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) and multiple Grade I placed Bonnie Blue Flag (Mineshaft), and from the family of Life is Good (Into Mischief). The 8-year-old mare produced a colt by Essential Quality last week.

Lemieux's half-sister, GI La Brea S. runner-up Brilliant Cut (Speightstown), sold for $750,000 to Katsumi Yoshida at last year's Winter Mixed Sale and was bred to Gun Runner in 2022 before being shipped to Japan last fall.

Williams said there was plenty of blue sky in the family.

“There are great possibilities with her dam being young and her half-sister being bred to the likes of Gun Runner,” he said. “Her dam had an Essential Quality just last week and the second dam is still active. And there is a pretty nice sire prospect under there. So she had a lot of things going for her. And she is by Nyquist, who we very much are still a fan of.”

Of the filly's sale-topping price tag, Williams said, “I thought we would have to spend that kind of money. The market says that that's what quality costs. Is she worth that? I'm so old school, I can't get my head around those kind of numbers. But that's the market and you have to adjust to it.”

Established in 2016, the Nice Guys Stables partnership spearheaded by Spielman has already had success on the racetrack, where their first horse, Piedi Bianchi (Overnalyze), took them to the Breeders' Cup in 2017, as well as in the pinhooking arena, where they sold an Arrogate filly for $1 million at the 2021 OBS April sale.

“One of the great things about Nice Guys Stables is that they are both commercial and he races,” Williams said. “So he will do both. And boy do we need those. Because it's about racing.”

Nice Guys Stables had graded success last fall when King Cause (Creative Cause) won the GIII Knickerbocker S. The gelding was sixth in last week's GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational.

“He's got 14 2-year-olds that he's breaking now,” Williams said of Spielman. “He's just a great young guy. And I think Nice Guys Stables has a terrific future if he keeps buying this kind of mare.”

Curlin Blessing Joins Repole Band

Curlin Blessing (Curlin) (hip 545) will be joining the broodmare band of Mike Repole after bloodstock agent Jacob West made a final bid of $230,000 to acquire the 4-year-old daughter of champion Indian Blessing (Indian Charlie).

“She's by a stallion that we've had a lot of luck with and she's out of a champion mare,” West said. “So it was pretty easy. She's by a champion out of a champion. She stood out here to us from a pedigree standpoint and a physical standpoint. Mike is trying to play the high-end breeding game a little bit now. So she was a mare that fit the bill.”

The broodmare prospect, who was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, was a two-time winner at Turf Paradise while racing for her owner/breeder Patti and Hal Earnhardt. The couple also bred and campaigned Indian Blessing, who was a five-time Grade I winner and was named champion 2-year-old filly in 2007 and champion female sprinter in 2008.

Of potential mating plans for Curlin Blessing, West said, “Eddie Rosen will decide who we will breed her to. My vote is Life is Good–that's what I hope we do. But it's 100% up to Ed. Mike will let Ed make that decision.”

Good Magic Filly Sets Early Pace

A short yearling by Good Magic (hip 350) led early returns during Tuesday's second session of the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale when bringing a final bid of $225,000 from bloodstock agent Catherine Hudson, acting on behalf of Michael Sucher's Champion Equine. The bay was consigned by Vinery Sales.

“She was a gorgeous, leggy daughter of Good Magic, who has four horses on the Kentucky Derby trail,” Hudson said of the filly's appeal. “She just had a great outlook with a beautiful eye. Everything seemed great and I think there is some improvement in her. She seemed to get better as the days went by at the sales grounds. She showed a lot of class.”

The filly is out of Rich Love (Not For Love) and her half-sister Ruby Nell (Bolt d'Oro) topped last year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale when purchased by Spendthrift Farm for $1.2 million. The now 3-year-old debuted with a runner-up effort at Santa Anita Jan. 22.

“She was second with a bad trip,” Hudson said of the half-sister. “And she's breezed back. So we like that, too.”

Bred by Theta Holdings, the yearling RNA'd for $115,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale. Her dam, carrying a full-sibling, sold for $140,000 at that same sale.

“I'm not quite sure what the client wants to do with her at this time, but we will just get her home and figure it out,” Hudson said.

Vinery Sales and Theta Holdings was responsible for another

yearling by Good Magic who sold for six figures Tuesday at Fasig-Tipton. The consignor/breeder duo sold a colt by the champion (hip 355) for $100,000 to Davant Latham. The dark bay had RNA'd for $70,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.

Kirkwood Consignment Comes to a Close

South Carolina horseman Kip Elser, who has shifted his focus to public and private bloodstock purchases, evaluations and racing stable management, sent the final three horses through the ring under his Kirkwood consignment banner Tuesday at Fasig-Tipton.

“I feel excited to change leads and roll on down the stretch,” Elser said after watching his final horse go through the ring. “Sure, I will miss consigning. And I love training horses. But I have done it a long time and now it's time to change.”

Tuesday's offerings were bittersweet as two belonged to Elser's longtime friend and client, the late Steve Schwartz.

“It was emotional because Steve was a 25-year friend, client, and partner,” Elser said. “And he was just a wonderful guy. So of course there were some emotions, because were together for a long time.”

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Wonder Wheel and Forte Collect 2-Year-Old Eclipse Awards

Breeders' Cup Juvenile races produced both the 2-year-old filly and colt champions, with Wonder Wheel taking the filly statue and Forte leading the colts.

WONDER WHEEL
Each spring, as most trainers get their promising 2-year-olds ready to begin their careers, invariably one or two (or maybe more, depending on the conditioner) of these youngsters stand out. And just as invariably, these trainers hold their breath and cross everything they can cross to help ensure everything goes right enough that the end result–a Breeders' Cup win–produces the ultimate result–the Eclipse Award.

For Hall of Fame conditioner Mark Casse, Wonder Wheel was that horse in 2022. Some trainers cautiously follow the old idiom of playing cards close to their vest, but not Casse. Nobody didn't know how he felt about Wonder Wheel early on.

“This summer I was saying she's my next Classic Empire,” Casse said, comparing the daughter of Into Mischief to his 2016 juvenile champion. “And where I was putting her, why I was putting her in that category was he won our first 2-year-old Breeders' Cup. And I thought that she was that good. I told anybody who would listen.”

With one notable exception, Wonder Wheel turned in a classic championship-style season which garnered her two Grade I wins.

After breaking her maiden at first asking back in June, her first foray into stakes company produced a 6 3/4-length win in the Listed Debutante S. at Churchill Downs on Independence Day. That dominant performance earned her a spot in the GI Spinaway S. gate at Saratoga two months later and, though it wasn't the smoothest of trips for the filly that day–some would say she ran “greenly”–she still managed a decent runner-up finish to fellow Eclipse Award finalist Leave No Trace (Outwork).

She was a 4-1 lukewarm favorite in the GI Darley Aclibiades S. at Keeneland Oct. 7 in her next start and had to work for it, barely holding off the highly regarded Chop Chop (City of Light) by a diminishing nose in that wire-to-wire performance. And by the time those two met again in the Breeders' Cup, she was a 6-1 fourth choice while her Alcibiades runner-up carried favoritism.

And in a somewhat surprising move that day, Wonder Wheel wasn't anywhere near her preferred spot as the leader or among them, she was in front of just two rivals in the early going. In an effort expected from older runners rather than lightly raced 2-year-olds, the bay filly saved ground in the early going, quietly gained on her rivals on the turn, snuck through the narrowest of gaps at the quarter pole, took advantage with an eighth left to run and stormed home to win by three lengths.

“Two-year-olds can't do what she did. It's just very difficult to come from out of it,” Casse said. “She, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being absolute class, she's a 10.”

Wonder Wheel is owned by Len and Lois Green's D J Stables, which also campaigned 2018 Breeders' Cup Juvenile fillies winner Jaywalk (Cross Traffic) in partnership with Cash Is King Stable. Len Green is a CPA and lecturer at Babson College and a graduate of the Harvard Business School. He regularly writes and lectures on financial issues affecting horse owners. He is undoubtedly an expert on profits and losses, rewards and risks. The next big risk for Wonder Wheel could perhaps be taking on the boys in the GI Kentucky Derby.

“I'm sure we'll be nominating,” Casse said.

Wonder Wheel was given a couple months off over the winter and has been back to work at Casse's Florida training center, with a 2023 debut yet to be determined.

-Margaret Ransom

FORTE
He may not have been the most expensive of the 43 yearlings Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola bought out of the 2021 Keeneland September sale when the hammer fell at $110,000 that day, but Forte certainly can claim the title of most successful when he capped off an impressive year by collecting the Eclipse Award trophy as the best 2-year-old colt or gelding of 2022.

Much has been made of the colt's name, which means “strong” in Italian and follows the Italian-themed pattern of names for other top Repole/St. Elias runners, like champion and 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Classic hero Vino Rosso (Curlin). But another meaning says the word denotes, “something in which one excels; a peculiar talent or faculty; a strong point or side; chief excellence.” Not much to argue against that meaning, either, where Forte is concerned.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who conditioned 2010 champion juvenile Uncle Mo for Repole and also Forte's sire, selected the colt for one primary reason.

“He looks like Violence,” Repole said.

Forte was the 1-5 favorite in his debut at Belmont Park May 27 off some incredible works and backstretch buzz, and he ran to his odds, dominating his opponents by 7 3/4 lengths to earn the 'TDN Rising Star' moniker. He also justifiably earned his position as a leading force to be reckoned with in the 2-year-old stakes ranks on the East Coast. For a little while, anyway.

As is more common than not with growing and maturing juveniles, that rolling boil of excitement cooled to a simmer when he turned in an unexpected and well-beaten fourth-place finish as the favorite in his stakes debut in the GIII Sanford S. at Saratoga July 16. His connections offered no excuses and continued to look ahead, the year-end goal of the Breeders' Cup always within their crosshairs.

Finding some added distance and a wet track to his liking for his next start, as well as no pressure as the near 7-1 fourth choice, was all he needed to put in a three-length romp in the sloppy GI Hopeful S. and return to the rank as the best 2-year-old based in New York.

While the logical and typical next move for the leading colt on the right coast as a last prep for the Breeders' Cup would have been the GI Champagne S. at Belmont Park, Forte's connections decided to call an audible since the Breeders' Cup would be held at Keeneland, choosing instead to use the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity as a springboard to the World Championships. Dismissed as the near 9-2 second choice, he rolled from way back to earn a neck win over 7-5 favorite Loggins (Ghostzapper).

Despite his impressive fall campaign of two Grade I wins, on Future Stars Friday, Forte was the 5-1 second choice to the highly regarded Bob Baffert-trained dual Grade I winner Cave Rock (Arrogate) at 2-5 when the gates sprung open. And just as it looked as though the win–as well as divisional honors–were slipping away as his chief rival led the field into the stretch, Forte found another gear and dug in, running down the favorite in deep stretch in a thrilling 1 1/2-length victory.

Forte turned in his first work as a 3-year-old, going an easy three furlongs at Palm Beach Downs Jan. 21. He is expected to make his 2023 bow in the GII Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park Mar. 4 and then use GI Florida Derby Apr. 1 or GII Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland Apr. 8 as his final prep for the May 6 GI Kentucky Derby.

Early Impressions…
“I thought he was a gorgeous foal. I was really happy with him. I had had weanlings by Violence that I had pinhooked–I bought weanlings and sold yearlings–and I liked them, but they didn't really resemble the sire at all. So I was pleased to get a foal in Forte that looks a lot like Violence. He's a good blend of his sire and his dam.”
-Amy Moore, South Gate Farm Owner and Founder

–-Margaret Ransom

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