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Early Kentucky Derby favorite Forte scratched from race
The early favorite for the Kentucky Derby was scratched Saturday hours before the race.
Forte was declared out of the 149th Derby, according to Churchill Downs spokesman Darren Rogers. Co-owner Mike Repole said Kentucky Horse Racing Commission veterinarians had concerns about a bruised right front foot.
It was the fifth scratch this week from the $3 million race, the first time that many were scratched since 1936. That year 19 horses were entered and 14 ran.
The colt stumbled on the track during a workout Thursday, although trainer Todd Pletcher had downplayed it.
Four horses have died since the opening night of the Kentucky Derby. Churchill Downs Racetrack — which hosts the crown jewel of competitive horse races — called the deaths “highly unusual” and “completely unacceptable.”
State veterinarians were at Pletcher’s barn early Saturday to observe and examine Forte, who galloped on the track and then jogged outside the barn.
Forte had a five-race winning streak and was the early 3-1 favorite. His jockey, Irad Ortiz Jr., will now ride Cyclone Mischief.
That leaves 18 horses to run in the 1 1/4-mile Derby. The horses will break from posts 1 through 18 in the 20-stall starting gate. Posts 19 and 20 will be empty.
It was another pre-Derby disappointment for Repole.
He owned Uncle Mo, the early favorite for the 2011 Derby who was scratched the day before the race. The colt had a gastrointestinal infection and was eventually diagnosed with a rare liver disease. He resumed racing before retiring in November of that year.
Other horses that were scratched this week were Practical Move and Skinner, both because of fever, and Continuar.
Pletcher, a two-time Derby winner, will still saddle Tapit Trice and Kingsbarns.
It’s not the first time the favorite has been scratched.
In 2019, Omaha Beach missed the race because of an entrapped epiglottis, which affected his breathing. He had surgery and went on to race later that year.
In 2009, I Want Revenge was scratched on Derby day after a soft tissue injury to his left front ankle was discovered that morning.
Churchill Downs said specific wagers placed before the scratch will revert to the post-time favorite. Other wagers will receive consolation payouts. All other advance wagers on Forte, except for the Derby future wager, will be refunded.
Post time for the Derby is shortly before 7 p.m. EDT.
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Charges against Georgia high school shooter’s dad echo precedent set in historic Crumbley case
(CBS DETROIT) – The father of the 14-year-old accused of killing two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school was charged in connection with the shooting. His charges follow in the wake of the convictions of two Michigan parents after a school shooting carried out by their child.
Colin Gray, 54, has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, in the shooting that happened at Apalachee High School Wednesday morning. The 14-year-old suspect was charged with four counts of felony murder.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said the charges come from Colin Gray “knowingly allowing his son to possess a weapon.” The father was in court Friday morning, where a judge told him he could face up to 180 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
The father of the shooting suspect being charged comes after the historic case of James and Jennifer Crumbley, who were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, becoming the first parents in the U.S. to be convicted in a mass school shooting carried out by their child.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were held responsible for their roles in the Oxford High School shooting that killed four students — Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre and Hana St. Juliana — and injured seven other people on Nov. 30, 2021.
During their trials, the prosecution argued that the Crumbley parents ignored their son’s mental health needs and purchased the gun that he used in the shooting.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, the prosecutor in the Crumbley case who set the precedent for prosecuting parents in mass school shootings, reacted to the news that the Georgia suspect’s father was charged in an interview with CNN Thursday.
“My reaction is rage because you know it the prosecution of the Crumbleys was never, ever meant to be a floodgate of charges against parents, because it was such an egregious set of facts,” said McDonald. “I share the emotions of the entire country that, even after that well-publicized case, we’re still here.”
Former federal prosecutor and defense attorney Rick Convertino, appearing on CBS News Detroit to discuss the shooting at Apalachee before it was revealed that the shooter’s father had been charged, noted the differences between the gun laws in Georgia and Michigan and claimed “gun culture” is different in Georgia than it is in Michigan. Georgia passed a law in 2022 that allowed residents to carry without a permit, which means adults do not need to have a permit to buy or carry buy rifles, shotguns or handguns.
One of the most significant differences, according to Convertino, is with the gun storage laws. “In Georgia, there’s no specific child-preventive act that requires the guns to be secured and safe from unrestricted children to have access to it,” said Convertino.
There is also no gun lock law in Georgia or any “red flag” laws that allow for the removal of guns from someone who is determined to be a risk for harming themselves or other people. Georgia’s laws are among the least strict in the nation, according to a CBS News analysis.
“We’ve seen this 14-year-old shooter had made threats a year before. The father apparently said to the police that he bought the AR-style weapon for a Christmas present for his minor child,” Kris Brown, president of gun control advocacy organization Brady, told CBS News’ Natalie Brand, drawing a parallel to the Crumbley case.
Brown said Colin Gray’s arrest and the convictions of James and Jennifer Crumbley send a message.
“If you have a firearm in the home, you better safely store that firearm, or you will have a risk if something happens of being criminally charged,” she said.
Michigan’s new gun safety laws went into effect in February, a little over two years after the Oxford High School shooting.
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