Todd Pletcher

Irad Ortiz Jr. finished off the Championship Meet at Gulfstream Park in style Saturday, piloting Forte to a victory in Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby to tally his sixth winner on the day alone. With three more winning rides on Sunday's closing day program, Ortiz finished the Championship Meet with 128 victories to reclaim the jockey title for the winter Thoroughbred session. Ortiz ran away with this year's title while finishing 57 wins ahead of the Luis Saez, who finished three wins ahead of third-place Jose Ortiz. "I've had big...

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte (Violence), winner of Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby, will remain in South Florida for now to await his next assignment in the GI Kentucky Derby. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher reported Sunday that the champion 2-year-old colt emerged from his one-length victory over Mage (Good Magic) in good order and left Gulfstream Park early Sunday morning to return to Pletcher's winter base at Palm Beach Downs "He's good. He shipped back early this morning and he looks very well," Pletcher said. "We'll...

There's your favorite for the GI Kentucky Derby. Repole Stable and St Elias Stable's champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) punched his ticket to Louisville with a dramatic, come-from-behind victory as the 1-5 favorite in Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. Up against it from the get-go exiting from a much-discussed gate 11 draw in a field of 12 with a short run to the first turn, the $110,000 Keeneland September graduate was off to an alert beginning and raced in traffic to the clubhouse turn before...

1st-Gulfstream, $70,000, Msw, 4-1, 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:36.29, fm, 1 1/4 lengths. SPANSIVE (f, 3, Karakontie {Jpn}--Fleur de Cerise, by Bernardini), off as the 2-1 favorite from a morning line of 6-1, was given a well-judged ride from the front by Jose Ortiz and had something left late to graduate nicely on debut in the Curlin Florida Derby day lid-lifter. Nicely into stride and asked for just enough speed to make the lead, the dark bay took them through an opening quarter in a modest :25.27 and controlled things through...

Coming from a culture where most wagering stipulates a fixed dividend, in the startling event that your horse happens to see through his part of the deal, I tend to view the morning line on American races as named for the hangover evidently being suffered by its compiler.

Big Brown (Boundary) took no prisoners from post 12 with a powerful, wire-to-wire performance in the GI Curlin Florida Derby before capturing the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2008. It's champion Forte (Violence)'s turn now. Last term's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, an eye-catching winner while kicking off his sophomore campaign in the GII Fountain of Youth S. Mar. 4, towers over his 11 rivals on paper in Saturday's Florida Derby. But with a well-documented short run to the first turn going 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream...

It's that time of the year, when Todd Pletcher is in the headlines virtually every weekend. He won last Saturday's GII Louisiana Derby with Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo), has the favorite in Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby in Forte (Violence) and the following week will head to Keeneland for the GI Toyota Blue Grass, where Tapit Trice (Tapit) could be the horse to beat. To get Pletcher's latest thoughts on his wealth of 3-year-old talent we had him join us on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. Pletcher...

Trainer Todd Pletcher joins this week's TDN Writers' Room ahead of champion Forte's bid in the GI Curlin Florida Derby.

We've taken the plunge into the deeper end of the prep pool for the GI Kentucky Derby. Five nine-furlong stakes each awarding 100 qualifying points are scheduled over the next two Saturdays, after which this list will expand to the Top 20. 1) FORTE (c, Violence--Queen Caroline, by Blame) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable; B-South Gate Farm (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales history: $80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Colt, MGISW, 6-5-0-0, $1,833,230. Last start: 1st GII Fountain of Youth S....

'TDN Rising Star' Munnys Gold turned her stakes debut into a laugher while stamping herself as a potential major force among sophomore fillies this season. A jaw-dropping 14 1/2-length debut winner at Monmouth last June, good for a gaudy 101 Beyer Speed Figure, the dark bay was subsequently sidelined with a foot bruise, but eventually resurfaced to make short work of first-level Florida-bred allowance foes at Gulfstream Jan. 25. She was facing her sternest test to date with the likes of Dreaming of Snow, upsetter of champion Wonder Wheel (Into...

Saturday's two 100-point preps for the GI Kentucky Derby yielded a pair of colts who are polar opposites in many ways. Yet the stock is on the rise for both Two Phil's (Hard Spun) and Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo), as their respective scores in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks and GII Louisiana Derby are attracting attention while stamping both as legitimate mid-tier threats on the Triple Crown totem pole. Two Phil's ($150,000 KEESEP) has appeal as a 4-for-8 blue-collar closer/stalker whose strengths are versatility and adaptability. He's won sprinting and routing...

Spendthrift Farm's Kingsbarns (c, 3, Uncle Mo--Lady Tapit, by Tapit) made it a perfect three-for-three in a dominating, front-running performance in Saturday's GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. 'TDN Rising Star' Disarm (Gun Runner) was second; 'TDN Rising Star' Jace's Road (Quality Road) was third. Well-backed at odds of 9-2 from a 6-1 morning-line quote, Kingsbarns was sent to the front by Flavien Prat from post six and led the way through easy fractions of :24.71 and :49.60 with Jace's Road shadowing in second. Kingsbarns began to shake free...