Connect with us

Published

on

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Forte’s last start over a mile was impressive enough that trainer Todd Pletcher wasn’t too shocked at what he achieved in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, or the way he did it.

Forte served notice as an early Kentucky Derby favorite, rallying from mid-pack to overtake Cave Rock and win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by 1 1/2 lengths on Friday at Keeneland. His fourth victory in five starts comes just over a month after he won the Breeders’ Futurity at the track by a neck.

Pletcher’s colt went off as a 4-1 choice in the 1 1/16-mile race but had work to do running in the middle on the backstretch. Forte quickly made his charge through the 10-horse field and got off the rail to close in on Bob Baffert-trained Cave Rock, the 4-5 favorite, and the leaders by the final turn.

“The last time, he made the lead pretty comfortably,” Pletcher said of Forte. “But he got to waiting and laying on the horse next to him, so today, if we were lucky enough to get in a position to get (the lead), we wanted to give ourselves plenty of space and not get close to the horse next to him.”

Forte turned it on entering the stretch, racing past Cave Rock at the eighth pole to claim his third consecutive victory as a 2-year-old, perhaps solidifying his credentials for Horse of the Year honors. Mike Repole, whose stable co-owns the horse with Florida Panthers owner Vincent Viola, was giddy over his good fortune, just five months after he won the Belmont Stakes with Mo Donegal.

“My whole family thinks you just show up and you win a Grade 1 (race) and that that’s normal,” he said. “I’m not fooled about how blessed I am that this is happening.”

Wonder Wheel preceded Forte’s rally with one of her own in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies, and in more dramatic fashion.

The dark bay filly surged past Leave No Trace in the final furlong for a three-length victory. It was her fourth win in five starts, including last month’s Darley Alcibiades at Keeneland, with a second and likely sealed her claim as the top 2-year-old female.

“She didn’t break very well,” jockey Tyler Gaffalione said of her 1 1/16-mile trip in 1:44.9. “I got pushed back a little further than I wanted to be. … Spots kept opening up inside so I just going forward and it just worked out.”

The $1 million Juvenile Turf capped the five-race stakes card with its most exciting ending, as Victoria Road nosed past Silver Knott after running three-wide at the top of the stretch. It looked like a dead heat at the wire before a photo finish showed the Irish-bred colt eking out his fourth consecutive victory with a head bob. Curly Larry and Mo was the early pace setter before finishing 14th.

“I thought in the lane he had won,” jockey Ryan Moore said. “And when the out rider was saying it was close, I was pretty sure he held on.”

Mischief Magic came on late to earn a one-length victory over Dramatised in the $1 million Turf Sprint. Meditate had it a little easier in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, beating Pleasant Passage by 2½ lengths.

The championship went off on a clear, sunny day at the picturesque track in the heart of Bluegrass horse country. The grandstands were filled, a huge difference from the 2020 running without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Continue Reading

Sports

D-backs lose Gurriel to season-ending ACL tear

Published

on

By

D-backs lose Gurriel to season-ending ACL tear

The Arizona Diamondbacks placed left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on the 10-day injured list due to a torn right ACL injured the previous night in a 7-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.

Gurriel was hurt in the sixth inning after he jumped awkwardly out of the way to avoid center fielder Blaze Alexander, who made a diving catch on a line drive by Rowdy Tellez for the third out of the inning.

Alexander was playing his first game in center field as a big leaguer.

Gurriel stayed on the ground for several minutes while medical staff attended to him. The 31-year-old eventually got up and walked to a cart before being driven off the field.

Additional tests confirmed the torn ACL.

Gurriel is batting .248 this season with 19 homers and 80 RBIs.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

Published

on

By

Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

Ohio State climbed to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll on Tuesday, LSU and Miami moved into the top five, and Florida State jumped back into the rankings at the expense of Alabama, which plummeted to its lowest spot in 17 seasons.

The defending national champion Buckeyes received 55 of 66 first-place votes to move up two spots after their win over preseason No. 1 Texas. Ohio State is at the top of a regular-season poll for the first time since November 2015.

The Longhorns dropped to No. 7 as the media voters shuffled the rankings following a topsy-turvy Labor Day weekend. It was only the second time — and first since 1972 — that two top-five teams lost in Week 1 and the first time that four top-10 teams lost.

Only three teams in the Top 25 are in the same spot they were in the preseason poll.

Penn State got seven first-place votes and remained No. 2. LSU, which received three first first-place votes, was followed by Georgia and Miami to round out the top five.

Oregon got the other first-place vote and was followed by Texas, the Clemson Tigers, Notre Dame and South Carolina.

LSU jumped six spots after winning at Clemson and Miami got a five-rung promotion for its victory over Notre Dame.

The biggest movers in the poll were Florida State and Alabama after the Seminoles’ 31-17 victory in their head-to-head matchup.

The Seminoles, who were 15 spots outside the Top 25 in the preseason, are now No. 14. The Crimson Tide fell all the way from No. 8 to No. 21 — their lowest ranking since Bama was No. 24 in the 2008 preseason poll. That was the second of Nick Saban’s 17 teams in Tuscaloosa.

It’s been quite a turnabout for Florida State. The Seminoles were No. 10 in the 2024 preseason, lost their first two games, finished 2-10 and weren’t ranked again until now.

Utah, at No. 25, joins Florida State as the only newcomers to this week’s poll. The Utes are ranked for the first time since last October, when they were at the front end of a seven-game losing streak.

Utah had received the second-most points, behind BYU, among teams outside the preseason Top 25, but the Utes got more credit for beating UCLA on the road than the Cougars received for hammering FCS foe Portland State.

Boise State, which had been No. 25, received no votes following its 34-7 loss at South Florida. The Broncos had appeared in 14 straight polls.

The other team to drop out of the poll was No. 17 Kansas State, which followed up its season-opening loss to Iowa State with a last-minute home win over FCS team North Dakota.

Ohio State is the first team to take over the top spot in the first regular-season poll since Alabama in 2012. It was the biggest jump to No. 1 in the first regular-season poll since USC was promoted from No. 3 in 2008.

Texas’ fall was the biggest for a preseason No. 1 since Auburn dropped to No. 8 in the first regular-season poll of 1984.

LSU has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 3 in 2012, and Miami has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 5 in 2004.

South Carolina is in the top 10 in the regular season for the first time since it was No. 8 in December 2013.

CONFERENCE CALL

SEC: 10 (Nos. 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)

Big Ten: 6 (Nos. 1, 2, 6, 11, 15, 23)

ACC: 4 (Nos. 5, 8, 14, 17)

Big 12: 4 (Nos. 12, 16, 24, 25)

Independent: 1 (No. 9)

RANKED VS. RANKED

No. 15 Michigan at No. 18 Oklahoma: This weekend’s game will be the first meeting since Oklahoma beat the Wolverines in the Orange Bowl to win the 1975 national championship. Wolverines freshman QB Bryce Underwood gets put to the test in his second start.

Continue Reading

Sports

Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

Published

on

By

Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

While Dabo Swinney isn’t inflating LSU‘s grade for beating his team in Saturday’s season opener, Brian Kelly is ready to give the Clemson coach an incomplete for his evaluation.

Both coaches weighed in Tuesday on how LSU’s 17-10 win at Clemson should be viewed. After trailing 10-3 at halftime, LSU outscored Clemson 14-0 in the second half and finished with significant edges in both total yards (354-261) and first downs (25-13).

LSU rose six spots to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll Tuesday, while Clemson dropped four spots to No. 8.

“It was a helluva game, down to the last play,” Swinney said in his weekly news conference. “Right out of the gate. It’s like getting the final exam [on] Day 1 of class. They made a 65; we made a 58. Neither one of us were great.”

Kelly had not won a season opener at LSU before Saturday, and the victory was his first with the Tigers against an AP top-5 opponent.

“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s really a really good grader for giving himself a 58, or he’s a really hard grader on us,” Kelly said in his news conference when told about Swinney’s comment.

“Or he didn’t see the second half, which, that might be the case. He might not have wanted to see the second half.”

Kelly added that LSU is moving on to this week’s game against Louisiana Tech.

“Clemson is a darn good football team,” Kelly said. “That’s a top-notch team, and they’re going to be a team in the hunt for [the] playoff picture. We hope we are, too. But it was only one game. So I don’t know if he’s a hard grader or an easy grader, but I like the way that we played in the second half.”

Clemson visits LSU to open the 2026 season.

Continue Reading

Trending