Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable’s Kentucky-bred Forte solidified his position as the early Kentucky Derby (G1) favorite with an impressive victory in the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, April 1.

Sent to the post as the prohibitive 1-5 favorite in a field of 12, Forte found himself in traffic toward the back of the pack in the early going. Racing on the outside down the backstretch before swinging five-wide around the far turn, Forte rallied strongly in the stretch to overtake Mage nearing the wire. In going on to score by a length at the finish, Forte completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.37 to notch his sixth win in seven career starts. Forte now owns four Grade 1 victories, having also won the Hopeful S. (G1), the Breeders’ Futurity (G1), and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) last year at two.

“I was worried, he had a lot to do turning for home,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “He had to angle out really wide and kind of got a wide trip all the way around there, but he had a pretty smooth run; he just had to lose a lot of ground to do it. It looked like he had a lot to do still at the eighth pole, but then really kicked in the last part and found his best stride the last sixteenth.”

Forte, last year’s Champion Juvenile and a son of Violence, prevailed over the largest Florida Derby field since Big Brown defeated 11 rivals in 2008. With the win, Forte picked up 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard to top all contenders with 190 points with about a month remaining until the First Saturday in May. Forte prepped for the Florida Derby with a 4 ½-length win in the Fountain of Youth S. (G2) in March in his seasonal debut.

“He grabbed the bit and the outside horse (Mage) moved and (Forte) gave me a good feeling and he’s ready to roll,” said winning rider Irad Ortiz Jr. of his Florida Derby trip. “He jumped on the bit, and I said, ‘We can go around.’ The trainer told me to ride him with patience. It’s a long stretch going a mile and an eighth, so that’s what I did.”

The courage Forte demonstrated in the Florida Derby impressed Pletcher.

“He just continues to amaze us,” Pletcher said. “He gets better and better. He handled the stretch-out to a mile and an eighth great, and actually, probably ran a mile and three-sixteenths today. It gives you a lot of confidence moving forward.”

Forte was bred in Kentucky by South Gate Farm and was a $110,000 Keeneland September Sale graduate. All told, Forte has won six of seven starts and banked $2,409,830.