![]() ![]() Tapit Trice was purchased for $1.3 million at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the multiple graded stakes-placed mare Danzatrice, whose Pletcher-trained sire Dunkirk finished second in the 2009 Belmont Stakes. He's got the talent to win a big race, and already has in the Blue Grass, but the talent is there. "He's kind of put himself in a compromising position a couple of times, the Haskell for one, the Derby for another I just feel like we need to make some sort of adjustment to hopefully improve on that a little bit. I don't know if it's going to make him any quicker early, but I don't think it can hurt," Pletcher said of the equipment change. "We feel like sometimes, like some of the Tapits, he gets a little distracted by other things. The gray son of Tapit, who sired 2021 Travers winner Essential Quality, finished a distant seventh in the Kentucky Derby before a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes, where he finished a nose behind Forte.Įntering from a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Haskell on July 22 at Monmouth Park, Tapit Trice will sport blinkers for the first time in Saturday's test. Pletcher also will saddle Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable's Tapit Trice, who seeks his first win since capturing the Grade 1 Blue Grass on April 8 at Keeneland. has been aboard Forte for all his starts, and retains the mount from post 1 aboard the 7-5 morning line favorite. "You're never going to make up for not getting to run in the Kentucky Derby, but it would be some sort of a consolation prize to win the Travers against the three Classic winners," Pletcher said.Ĭurrent meet leading jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. While disappointed in not being able to see his star pupil compete in the `Run for the Roses,' Pletcher said a Travers win would be a sweet one. Again, in the Jim Dandy, he had a lot to do with a sixteenth of a mile to go and he's got that personality that he wants to get there first."įorte earned Eclipse Award honors after completing a juvenile season which saw three Grade 1 victories, including the seven-furlong Hopeful at Saratoga before stretching out to two turns in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, both at Keeneland. I was proud of him in the Belmont, he was taking all the worst of it and got a wide trip coming around the turn off a 10-week layoff and still gaining on the winner at the end. "To accelerate like he did and make up that much ground on the eventual Derby winner. "You can see in almost all of his wins, but particularly in the Florida Derby, he seemed to salvage victory from what looked like a sure defeat coming by me at the eighth pole," recalled Pletcher. Pletcher spoke highly of Forte's Florida Derby effort, comparing it to his Jim Dandy win. Prior to scratching from the Kentucky Derby, Forte was a game winner of the Grade 1 Florida Derby on April 1 at Gulfstream Park over next-out Kentucky Derby winner and returning rival Mage after winning his seasonal debut in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on March 4 at the South Florida oval. I thought we got a good race from him there, so hopefully we've accomplished that." ![]() "Obviously, it was a frustrating time around the Derby and going into the Belmont off a 10-week layoff, so we're hoping to get back on track and put him in the best position to win the Travers. "It was great to get him back in the winner's circle here," Pletcher said. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher used the traditional local Travers prep as a springboard for both of his previous Travers winners Flower Alley and Stay Thirsty. The Jim Dandy victory was a redeeming one for Forte, who finished a late-closing second in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on June 10, five weeks after being scratched as the morning-line favorite for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. Racing an even third along the inside down the backstretch, Forte raced in between Angel of Empire and Saudi Crown in upper stretch and defeated the latter by a nose while earning a career-high 105 Beyer Speed Figure. ![]() The son of Violence enters from a narrow triumph in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy presented by DK Horse on July 29 over a sloppy and sealed Spa main track. Elias Stable's Forte, the 2022 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt, headlines this year's Travers and sports a ledger of 9-7-1-0 while bragging field-best earnings of $2,954,830.
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