A Come-From-Behind Triumph For Forte, Mage Places, Cyclone Mischief Shows

In an exhilarating, mature demonstration of pure racing heart, the 1-5 favorite Forte went wide under Irad Ortiz to overtake Cyclone Mischief and Mage in the last sixteenth of a mile to take the Florida Derby on Saturday. Forte could not have delivered a more emphatic claim to be the best colt bound for the Kentucky Derby to come out of the preps. He paid an expectedly low $2.80.

Under Ortiz, the colt broke well from the 11th stall in the gate, far to the outside and settled into ninth before slowly working his way up through the field up the backstretch. “He gave me a good feeling,” said the Hall of Fame jockey in characteristic understatement. “And he was ready to roll.” Ortiz took him five wide in the far turn, increasing the distance that Forte had to cover by, his elated trainer Pletcher estimated after the race, a sixteenth of a mile. But Forte still had a furiously hard-working Mage and the Dale Romans trained Cyclone Mischief out in front of him, and looked, in the last furlong, as if he would certainly show.

Which is when Ortiz found the afterburner switch and Forte breezed by his opponents to take the wire.

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