Forte will have to overcome post 11 in Florida Derby

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The road to the Kentucky Derby got a little trickier for the undisputed division leader Forte early Saturday afternoon after the reigning 2-year-old champion drew post position 11 in a surprisingly full field of 12 3-year-olds entered for next Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby.

Horses breaking from post position 11 in races run at the Florida Derby distance of a mile and one-eighth over the main track at Gulfstream Park have won just 2 of 49 starts, due in large part to the short run to the first turn since the track was reconfigured in 2006.

That statistic was not lost on Forte’s trainer, Todd Pletcher.

“It’s a tremendous disadvantage statistically breaking from post 11 at Gulfstream Park,” Pletcher said minutes after the draw. “And it’s a shame post position can play such a significant factor in important races such as the Florida Derby. But that’s the way they designed it and we knew what it was when we entered.”

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Forte, who began his 2023 campaign by dominating the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth by 4 1/2 lengths here on March 4, turned in his final work for the Florida Derby on Saturday at Palm Beach Downs. He breezed four furlongs in 49.76 seconds, according to clocker Dave Norton, before galloping out extremely well, per Pletcher. He went six furlongs in 1:16.90 before easing up seven-eighths in 1:31.98 with Jose Ortiz aboard.

“It was a very well-executed work,” Pletcher said. “He was well in hand and had a good, energetic gallop-out.”

Forte was not the only leading contender for the Grade 1 Florida Derby to have poor luck at Saturday’s post-position draw, which saw the four leading contenders for the race drawn in the four outermost posts. That group includes Fountain of Youth third-place finisher Cyclone Mischief in post 9, California invader Fort Bragg in post 10, and 2022 Remsen winner Dubyuhnill, post 12.

Post positions 9-12 are a combined 14 for 284 here going a mile and one-eighth on the dirt since 2006.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. nominated seven horses to the Florida Derby and entered four: West Coast Cowboy, Mr. Peeks, Nautical Star, and Mr. Ripple, all of whom are listed at odds of 20-1 or 30-1 on the morning line.

“Everything sort of came together at the last minute,” Joseph said. “Yesterday we were only going to run one, West Coast Cowboy. But the owner of Mr. Ripple and Mr. Peeks wanted to run his horses here instead of the Wood, and I liked the way Nautical Star worked this morning with West Coast Cowboy who, admittedly, didn’t work very well. But he didn’t work well before the Holy Bull, either, and ran third. And then everything worked out well for all four of our horses at the draw.”

Nautical Star and West Coast Cowboy worked in company here after the second renovation break on Saturday, with Nautical Star drawing clear by six lengths after completing five furlongs in 1:00.02, and continuing six panels under some prodding in 1:13.55. Il Miracolo, another listed at 30-1 on the line, also breezed five furlongs here Saturday, covering the distance in 59.64 under late urging for trainer Antonio Sano.

The lightly raced but well-regarded Mage, a troubled fourth after a slow start in the Fountain of Youth, was well drawn in post 4 for the Florida Derby. Completing the field are outsiders Jungfrau and Shaq Diesel.

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