Forte has been out of sight from a racing perspective over the past couple of months, but not out of the minds of voters.
The champion 2-year-old male of 2022, scratched from a scheduled start in the May 6 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs after a regulatory veterinarian had concerns over a mending bruised foot, supplanted Derby winner Mage in Week 18 media voting as the leader in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Top 3-Year-Old Poll.
The Repole and St. Elias Stable-owned son of Violence defeated Mage in the Fountain and Youth Stakes (G2) and Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park in his two starts this year. He is a probable starter at Belmont Park for the June 10 Belmont Stakes (G1), a race Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will try to win for a fifth time.
Mage, freshened for a summer campaign after his third-place finish in the May 20 Preakness Stakes (G1) is in second place in the poll, followed by Preakness winner National Treasure in third. The latter is expected to join Forte in the Belmont, with Angel of Empire and Tapit Trice being two other favorites for the 1 1/2-mile third leg of the Triple Crown.
Godolphin's Cody's Wish , pointed by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott to run in the one-mile Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on Belmont Stakes Day, leads the accompanying NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll.
Poll results can be found online.
