Forte, the champion male 2-year-old of 2022 who had a star-crossed 2023 beset with injuries, was retired from racing and will not race in 16 days in the Breeders\ Cup Classic co-owner Mike Repole’s office confirmed Thursday.
The news was posted first on X, formerly Twitter, by Daily Racing Form writer David Grening.
Forte will begin his breeding career standing as a stallion at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, BloodHorse reported.
A quarter crack was the latest hurdle that kept the 3-year-old Violence colt from getting back to racing for Repole, co-owner Vinnie Viola and Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.
Pletcher said this month he thought Forte had turned the corner after getting a patch applied by farrier Ian McKinlay to his left front foot. Apparently, though, the three-time Grade 1 winner could not advance past the galloping stage in his attempt to return to racing for the first time since he finished fourth as the 8-5 favorite Aug. 26 in the Travers (G1) at Saratoga.
Forte had been missing from the work tab since that race, and time simply ran out on his preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, where pre-entries are being taken Monday.
Coming off his championship season, Forte won the Fountain of Youth (G2) and Florida Derby (G1) and was the futures and morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby. On race day, however, a bruised left ankle led him to be scratched by a Kentucky Horse Racing Commission veterinarian at a time when Churchill Downs was in the midst of a spate of horse deaths.
Forte came back to finish second to Arcangelo in the Belmont Stakes. His last win came July 29 in the Jim Dandy (G2), his prep for the Travers.
Bought as a yearling for $110,000 two years ago, Forte won three Grade 1 races, including the 2022 Breeders’ Futurity, the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the 2023 Florida Derby. He also crossed first in the 2022 Hopeful, but he was disqualified over a medication violation that the Forte team is formally appealing.
Equibase, which still counts the Hopeful as a win, showed Forte’s career record finished at 10: 7-1-0 with earnings of $3,029,830.
