Barn Tour: Pletcher has plans for Forte and 6 other standouts

Forte is unquestionably the new star of the Todd Pletcher barn.

If an Eclipse Award as the top 2-year-old male of 2022 was not enough proof, Saturday’s runaway victory in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes separated Forte from the rest of Pletcher’s stable. It also moved him to the top of the Kentucky Derby 2023 futures market in Las Vegas and probably made him the morning-line, individual favorite for this weekend’s pari-mutuel Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

A seven-time training champion and a Hall of Famer, Pletcher said he saw it coming.

“Honestly, I can’t say I was surprised,” he told reporters Saturday at Gulfstream Park. “I felt really, really good about the way this horse was coming into the race.”

Could Forte become Pletcher’s first 3-year-old male champion or even his first horse of the year? There is a long way to go before that discussion can become serious. In the meantime, the Violence colt with four graded-stakes victories is expected back at Gulfstream Park next month.

Between his winner’s circle comments in South Florida during the weekend and his conversation last week on the Ron Flatter Racing Pod, Pletcher and seven of his standout horses were the subject of this latest Horse Racing Nation Barn Tour.

Forte. The path to Kentucky Derby 2023 is a simple one that Pletcher has used before.

“I would say off the strength of this race (Saturday) and the way he handled everything, the Florida Derby would be most likely,” he said, pointing Forte to the Grade 1, 1 1/8-mile race April 1.

Before the Fountain of Youth, Pletcher said Forte had grown up in the four months since he clinched his division championship last fall by winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

“He’s a tall, lanky colt that is not on the wide side,” Pletcher said. “What we’ve seen is he’s developed a little bit that way into that big frame. He’s always been such a classy horse to be around. He’s caught onto everything so quickly and professionally. It’s kind of what we saw especially in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile that he was able to sit in behind horses and really run like a seasoned veteran as a young horse.”

Tapit Trice. Forte might be a hard act to follow, but this $1.3 million Tapit colt has his backers who made him a 15-1 third choice in Las Vegas to win the Kentucky Derby. After a 49.34-second breeze Saturday covering a half-mile at Palm Beach Downs, Tapit Trice will take his next step toward Churchill Downs this weekend. “Assuming all goes according to plan, he is scheduled to run on (Saturday) in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3),” Pletcher said. Owned by Mandy Pope and Antony Beck, Tapit Trice will be looking for his third consecutive victory after running off to an eight-length allowance score last month at Gulfstream Park. The 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby will take Tapit Trice around two turns in a race for the first time.

Kingsbarns. A 49.27-second workout over four furlongs Friday at Palm Beach Downs kept this Uncle Mo colt on track for a possible start this month at Fair Grounds. “Right now we’re looking strongly at the Louisiana Derby (G2) on March 25 for his next race.” Bought last March for $800,000 by Spendthrift Farm, Kingsbarns is 2-for-2 with maiden and allowance wins this winter. Last out he won a mile-and-40-yard race by 7 3/4 lengths at Tampa Bay Downs. Pletcher simply said, “He’s doing great.” Kingsbarns was listed at 50-1 this week in Las Vegas to win the Kentucky Derby.

Litigate. At 55-1 in the Derby futures, this Blame colt who won the Sam F. Davis (G3) last month at Tampa Bay Downs might be in lockstep with Kingsbarns on the road to Kentucky. “He, too, is scheduled to go to Louisiana,” Pletcher said. “We like the mile-and-three-sixteenths aspect of that for both of those horses, and the timing of March 25 is good. The good thing about this time of year is you have an option pretty much every weekend. If you feel like you need to adjust something, you can call an audible. You can pick it up a week or push it back a week.”

Dude N Colorado. After winning a listed turf stakes Saturday renamed for his retired stablemate Colonel Liam, the 3-year-old Uncle Mo colt continued his path toward an April 7 target at Keeneland. “The Transylvania (G3) is on the radar,” Pletcher said. “We talked about that a little before the race, but we’ll keep our options open.” The Transylvania would stretch Dude N Colorado from a mile to the same 1 1/16-mile distance at which he finished third Feb. 4 in the Kitten’s Joy (G3) at Gulfstream.

Charge It. It is not all about 3-year-olds for Pletcher. In his second start after a seven-month break, this 4-year-old Tapit colt finished second to Endorsed on Saturday as the 3-5 favorite in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2). After the race Pletcher said, “He was just kind of under pressure most of the way and got a little bit intimidated. Then when (jockey Luis Sáez) pulled him out, he surged a little bit but was a little green. It kind of reminded me of the way he ran (finishing second to White Abarrio) in the Florida Derby last year. He’s still kind of figuring things out. He’s still a horse that’s light on experience, and hopefully some more races under his belt will help that.” Pletcher said a trip to Arkansas on April 22 still was in Charge It’s plans. “We kind of talked about maybe coming back in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2). We’ll see. I don’t think he did anything (Saturday) to knock us off course for considering that.”

Emmanuel. After finishing third in last year’s Blue Grass (G1), this More Than Ready colt was diverted to the turf, where he has won three graded stakes. The latest was Saturday at Gulfstream, where the 4-year-old colt ridden by Javier Castellano made it through traffic to finish first in the 1 1/16-mile Canadian Turf (G3). “He came back with a good finish,” said Pletcher, who gave Emmanuel a six-month break that ended with last month’s victory in the Tampa Bay Stakes (G3). “He is a versatile horse, and he has come back well. I think for right now we’ll focus on the turf,” said Pletcher, who did not specify a next race.