Gulfstream’s leading rider will be tasked with avoiding too much ground loss with Forte breaking from post-position 11 in the Florida Derby, which like other 1 1/8-mile races on the main track at the South Florida oval, begins with a short run to the first of two turns. It is the purse and the prestige that counts for Forte Saturday, and the use of the race as a steppingstone toward the run for the roses.įriday, March 31: 3-6:30 p.m. Already with 90 points, he is safely in the Derby. The two races offer qualifying points on a 100-40-30-20-10 scale to their top five finishers - not that Forte needs Derby points, the preference system Churchill Downs uses when the Derby is oversubscribed beyond its 20-horse field size. The 1 1/8-mile race is one of two prep races on Saturday that are part of the domestic Road to the Kentucky Derby series, the other being the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. A key step along the way comes April 1 when the 3-year-old races in the Curlin Florida Derby presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa at Gulfstream Park. Pletcher is a two-time Kentucky Derby winner.īut as with every Derby hopeful, everything must go right for Forte between now and the 1 1/4-mile classic May 6. As the regular rider of early Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve favorite Forte, this year would appear to present an opportunity to fill that Derby void, and perhaps, too, in the Preakness, though his trainer, Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, typically bypasses the Preakness turnaround on two weeks rest unless his horse wins the Derby.
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