Violence

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- There was very little suspense during Monday afternoon's GI Kentucky Derby post position draw held in the Aristides Lounge at Churchill Downs as Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) immediately kicked things off by drawing very well on the outside in post 15. Tabbed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite in the full field of 20, last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner overcame more than his share of adversity beneath regular rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. while punching his...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - TDN Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of leading GI Kentucky Derby contenders to get their 'Early Impressions.' Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) will look to join Street Sense and Nyquist as GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winners to capture the roses the following spring. The dark bay heads to the Kentucky Derby as the one to beat following impressive victories in this term's GII Fountain of Youth S. and GI Curlin Florida Derby...

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's likely GI Kentucky Derby favorite and last out GI Curlin Florida Derby winner Forte (Violence) headlined a busy morning beneath the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs as 12 candidates for this year's Run for the Roses turned in their final works for the first leg of the Triple Crown. Last year's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte, who worked a half-mile in company in :49.80 over a fast track, was one of four breezers for trainer Todd Pletcher. Other Pletcher half-mile workers...

3rd-Keeneland, $98,610, Msw, 4-27, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:27.71, ft, 11 lengths. ARDEN'S ASSAULT (f, 3, Violence--Can't Explain {SW & GSP, $219,809}, by Not For Love), debuted to be third when routing in a rained-off event Mar. 18 at the Fair Grounds, made the trek to Keeneland and entered the gate Thursday with added blinkers as the 2-1 choice in a tightly-bunched wagering field. Pushed for speed early by Luis Saez, she stormed to the front along the rail and was never challenged through a half in :46.04. In a one-horse...

The colt had been getting a little fractious in the gate and now he half sat down: too low for Jareth Loveberry to climb out, but not low enough to scramble underneath. "Get me out!" the jockey hollered. He was just trying to lift himself clear when his mount came back up and pinned a calf against the steel. The pain was excruciating. It was only five seconds or so before they got the gate open but that was enough, as they stretched him out, for the agony to be...

Raise Cain (Violence) worked five furlongs in 1:03.40 Thursday at Keeneland in preparation for an expected run in the GI Kentucky Derby. With regular work rider Isael Garcia aboard for trainer Ben Colebrook, Raise Cain produced fractions of :13.60, :26.80, :38.60, :51.40, 1:03.40 and galloped out 6 furlongs in 1:15.80. "Nice and easy... finished well and galloped out well. Just what you're looking for," said Colebrook. "He started out slow and then finished well." Colebrook, who will be saddling his first Kentucky Derby starter, plans to work Raise Cain next...

It's not easy, but somehow Amy Moore has made it look that way. After spending three decades as a high-profile Washington, D.C. lawyer, she said goodbye to the long work weeks and the pressures and changed careers midstream in 2015 and became a race horse owner and breeder. It could be a case of beginner's luck or that Moore really knows what she is doing or some combination of the two, but Moore's success has been nothing short of sensational. The first horse she bought and raced was Queen Caroline...

A new kingpin graces the No. 1 slot after a wild, final weekend of 100-point preps. The rankings below are independent from the "Road to the Derby" leaderboard Churchill Downs uses to determine starting berths, with several horses included here who are currently below the cut.   1) PRACTICAL MOVE (c, Practical Joke--Ack Naughty, by Afleet Alex) O-Leslie & Pierre Jean Amestoy & Roger Beasley; B-Chad Brown & Head of Plains Partners (KY); T-Tim Yakteen. Sales history: $90,000 RNA yrl '21 KEESEP; $230,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: GISW, 7-4-1-2,...

A week after champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) solidified his status as the horse to beat on the first Saturday in May, the final round of major GI Kentucky Derby preps offering 100 points to the winner will share the spotlight on an absolutely stacked Saturday afternoon of racing. Forte's Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate and fellow 'Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit), an impossible come-from-behind winner in the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 11, will exit from the rail in a deep renewal of the GI Toyota Blue...

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...

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) has been installed as the 4-5 morning-line favorite from post 11 in a field of a dozen 3-year-olds entered in next Saturday's $1-million GI Curlin Florida Derby presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa at Gulfstream Park. The GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner established himself as a clear early favorite for the GI Kentucky Derby following an impressive win while making his sophomore debut in the GII Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. Trainer Todd Pletcher...

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte (Violence) returned to the worktab at Palm Beach Downs Friday in preparation for a scheduled start in the $1-million GI Curlin Florida Derby Apr. 1 at Gulfstream Park. The Todd Pletcher-trained 2022 Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male breezed for the first time since his tour-de-force 2023 debut in the GII Fountain of Youth S. Mar. 4 at Gulfstream Park. He breezed a half-mile in :50.72 under regular jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. "I thought it was super. The horse is doing extremely well. He came...