Forte's Excellent 2-Year-Old Season Rewarded

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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Forte after winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneand

Trainer Todd Pletcher is no stranger to outstanding 2-year-olds. Heading into 2022, he had two juvenile champions to his credit and owned two Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) wins, along with six in the Champagne Stakes (G1) and three in the Hopeful Stakes (G1), New York's two premier stakes for juveniles.

By year's end most of those totals rose as Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte  compiled what rates as the most productive season by one of Pletcher's 2-year-old colts. The son of Violence   posted three grade 1 scores with victories in the Hopeful and Breeders' Futurity that preceded a decisive 1 1/2-length score in the Juvenile which made it academic that he would be named the Eclipse Award champion 2-year-old male at the Jan. 26 ceremonies.


"You can argue he's the most accomplished 2-year-old we've had and we've been fortunate to have a couple of champions," Pletcher said. "He was as dominant as any 2-year-old we've had. What he did is very difficult to do. You don't have that many opportunities to win grade 1 stakes with a 2-year-old and he was near-perfect." 

Bred by South Gate Farm in Kentucky out of the Blame   mare Queen Caroline, Forte won four of his five starts, falling short only in the Sanford Stakes (G3), his second start.

After the Sanford, he returned to take the Hopeful by three lengths and then in his first try around two turns, prevailed by a neck in Keeneland's Breeders' Futurity at a mile-and-sixteenth distance. Four weeks later, he returned to Keeneland as the 5-1 second choice and added the Juvenile to his résumé, covering the same distance as the Breeders' Futurity and beating 2-5 favorite Cave Rock , the Juvenile runner-up and another Eclipse finalist, along with Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) winner Victoria Road .

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"The Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner has a big edge in Eclipse Award voting," Pletcher said. "But when you top it off with two other grade 1s and couple it with a big Breeders' Cup win over the other leading candidate in Cave Rock, it solidified the deal for him."

Bought by owners Mike Repole of Repole Stable and Vinnie and Teresa Viola of St. Elias Stable for $110,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Forte is the second juvenile champion for Repole, who teamed with Pletcher to win the award in 2010 with Uncle Mo  , now a leading stallion.