The dark bay foal’s white markings were distinctive, so much so that he was nicknamed “Gaudy” by the farm staff. But his personality didn’t match the moniker at first. “He was somewhat shy when he was with his mother,” breeder Amy Moore recalled of the youngster at her South Gate Farm in Virginia. “He’d hide behind her in the stall.” But now? Forte has come into his own. “He’s gained his confidence,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of Forte, the Kentucky Derby favorite. “He’s proud of himself, as he should be.” There’s a right to pride for Forte and everyone connected with him. The Eclipse Award champion 2-year-old, he comes in to the Kentucky Derby off five consecutive wins, beginning last September, in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, and continuing with the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland, the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, and the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream. “It feels great – it’s very exciting,” Moore said, adding that she can hardly go to the grocery store or post office without being stopped by well-wishers. “The whole of Clarke County is rooting for him. He’s kind of become a local hero.” :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales Kentucky-born but Virginia-raised Forte, who races for Mike Repole’s Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias, has given the Old Dominion State a rooting interest. Fittingly, the 50-year anniversary of Virginia-bred Secretariat’s Triple Crown victory is being celebrated this year. Virginia Thoroughbred Association executive director Debbie Easter said of Moore, who earlier this year was named the president of the VTA board: “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person. She’s a very smart lady who had a vision in her mind of what she wanted to do.” Moore rode show horses as a child and teen growing up in North Carolina, and began dabbling in Thoroughbreds by galloping horses and working in sales. But she set her equine involvements aside for some three decades as she worked in law in Washington D.C. while living in nearby Alexandria, Va. When she retired from practicing law, Moore knew she wanted to live in the country, and in 2015 purchased South Gate, a 126-acre farm in Millwood, Va. The prior year, she had purchased her first Thoroughbred, admittedly stretching her budget to $170,000 to acquire a Virginia-bred daughter of Blame at the Keeneland September yearling sale. “I was looking for fillies, and I thought she was a beautiful filly and a very nice filly,” Moore said. Queen Caroline was nice, indeed, compiling a race record of 20-6-4-2 and earning $401,608. She was trained by Michael Matz at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. Queen Caroline’s victories included the 2016 and 2017 editions of the Nellie Mae Cox and the 2017 Brookmeade Stakes in Maryland. In 2016, she won the Ta Wee Stakes and Indiana Grand Stakes in Indiana. When Queen Caroline retired to Moore’s fledgling broodmare band, Moore selected Violence, standing at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky, for her first mating. Violence, by Medaglia d’Oro, had displayed precocity and versatility while winning the Grade 2 Nashua on dirt and Grade 1 CashCall Futurity on synthetic as a juvenile. The following year, he was a close second to eventual Kentucky Derby winner Orb in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth before injury ended his career. Standing for $40,000 in 2019, his sixth season at stud, he checked a number of boxes for Moore. “I was looking for a stallion that was affordable and that had some turf credentials without being a turf sire,” Moore said. “I was trying to breed a foal that would be successful commercially, and I wanted a foal that would be precocious and would run on dirt. But since Queen Caroline ran exclusively on turf, I didn’t want to close the door completely on that.” Queen Caroline was boarded in Kentucky to deliver her foal, because Moore did not yet have foaling capabilities in place at South Gate, and there was a lack of farms in Virginia offering space for outside mares to board and deliver. Moore said Virginia lost many stallions and broodmare boarding facilities after Colonial Downs closed in 2014. Since the track reopened in 2019, Virginia’s horsepeople have once again developed a program to support state breeders. Forte was foaled on Feb. 3, 2020 at the Cowles family’s Gunston Hall Farm in Lexington, Ky. In addition to his flashy markings, the newborn had another standout characteristic in puppy-like floppy ears, which straightened after a few days. He and Queen Caroline returned to South Gate in May, and when the colt was weaned that summer, his confident and independent streak emerged. “After he was weaned, he became very bold and very personable,” Moore said. “He was into everything and the first one to go anywhere. He was a leader.” Moore’s business plan for South Gate is to sell the colts and retain fillies for her broodmare band, and so the weanling Forte was sent to the 2020 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. He was bought for $80,000 by Reiley McDonald. He was then purchased for $110,000 by Repole and Viola at the Keeneland September yearling sale. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2023: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Pletcher, who was involved in selecting the team’s yearlings, has noticed the similarities between Forte and sire Violence, whom he also trained. “Physically very similar – both almost identical markings and color,” he said. “They look a lot alike, and, mentally, very straightforward horses. Very professional to train, uncomplicated.” Indeed, Forte’s path to this point has been relatively uncomplicated. The colt received his early training at Ocala Stud in Florida before joining Pletcher at the racetrack, posting his first official work in April 2022 and winning his debut May 27 at Belmont Park. “He was one of the first 2-year-olds that came in last March and caught on to everything very quickly,” Pletcher said. “He was very precocious and came out running at Belmont and Saratoga.” Meanwhile, Moore’s breeding adventure continues, as Queen Caroline, boarded at Chanteclair Farm in Versailles, Ky., was bred to Horse of the Year Flightline in late February and is in foal to that first-crop stallion. While hoping for a filly out of her star broodmare, Moore is planning to travel to Kentucky to watch Forte contest the Kentucky Derby. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.