2022 Eclipse Awards: Forte

Brilliant in his sprint debut in May, Forte proved he was not a flash in the pan, capturing three Grade 1 stakes through the summer and fall to become a finalist for the Eclipse Award in the 2-year-old male division.

A son of Violence out of the Blame mare Queen Caroline, Forte is owned by Mike Repole’s Repole Stable and Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable and trained by Todd Pletcher. He capped his 2-year-old season with a 1 1/2-length victory in the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Nov. 5. Thirty-one of the first 38 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winners were crowned divisional champions.

Overall, Forte won 4 of 5 starts with Grade 1 victories in the Hopeful at Saratoga and Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland preceding the Breeders’ Cup. Somewhat surprisingly, he was not favored in any of his Grade 1 starts.

:: Full list of 2022 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

He was favored in his debut at Belmont on May 27, a five-furlong race he won by 7 3/4 lengths. Sent off the favorite 7-5 favorite in a 12-horse Grade 3 Sanford at Saratoga, Forte finished fourth behind Mo Strike. Pletcher believes Forte didn’t handle the deep Saratoga surface that was in play the first part of the meet. However, the Sanford proved to be a productive race, with seven horses coming out of there to combine for 13 wins and seven stakes.

In the Hopeful on Sept. 5, Forte was sent off the fourth choice in a field of six and edged away from a drifting-out Gulfport, the race favorite, to win by three lengths.

In a 14-horse Breeders’ Futurity, at Keeneland on Oct. 8, Forte got locked in a stretch duel with favored debut winner Loggins, beating that one to the wire by a neck as the 4-1 second choice.

In the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Forte was a distant 5-1 second choice behind the 2-5 favorite Cave Rock. But when Cave Rock couldn’t make a clear lead, Forte swooped past him at the sixteenth pole to earn the victory under his regular rider Irad Ortiz Jr.

“There was so much hype about Cave Rock, we were going to have to step it up and ultimately he did and beat him fair and square,” Pletcher said.

In looking back, Pletcher deduced that the Sanford loss may have proven beneficial for Forte for the remainder of his campaign.

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“The experience that day of getting that kickback, that paid dividends down the road,” Pletcher said. “He was able to sit off the pace in the Breeders’ Futurity and Breeders’ Cup and take some kickback. I think that maybe it cost him on the day, but paid off for him later on.”

Forte was sold at the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale for $110,000. Following the Breeders’ Cup, Forte, who was bred by South Gate Farm, was sent to Stonestreet Farm for a break. He was scheduled to return to Pletcher’s winter base at Palm Beach Downs in early January and will point to the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream on March 4 for his 3-year-old debut.

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