Pletcher says Forte is making progress toward Breeders’ Cup

Lexington, Ky.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said Eclipse Award winner Forte, who has had a star-crossed year with injuries, is continuing to make progress in his race against the clock to be ready in four weeks for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

“He galloped well this morning,” Pletcher said Friday afternoon in the Keeneland winner’s circle after Candied won the Grade 1 Alcibiades. “I think we finally got this quarter crack behind us.”

Daily Racing Form’s David Grening reported last weekend that the four-time Grade 1 winner had a patch applied by farrier Ian McKinlay to his left front foot. After he finished fourth as the 8-5 favorite in the Travers (G1) on Aug. 26, the 3-year-old Violence colt was shipped to Churchill Downs, where his name has been conspicuously missing from the work tab.

“A little more galloping,” Pletcher said Friday, “then we’ll look at a possible breeze.”

If he puts in a timed work sometime in the next week, Forte still would have time to get in the three breezes Pletcher told DRF that he wanted before the Breeders’ Cup.

The 2022 male juvenile champion, Forte began 2023 with wins in the Fountain of Youth (G2) and Florida Derby (G1). He was the futures and morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby only to be a race-day scratch because of a bruised, right front foot.

Forte got back on the track the following month, finishing a deep-closing second to Arcangelo in the Belmont Stakes. He won by a nose against four rivals in the Jim Dandy (G2) on July 29 at Saratoga before the off-the-board result in the Travers.

Bought as a yearling for $110,000 by Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola, Forte is 10: 7-1-0 with earnings of $3,029,830.