Kentucky Derby 2023 preview: Scratches, obstacles before race

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Two more horses died, making it seven in all, before the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, and early favorite Forte was scratched with an injury in another series of blows to a sport already reeling from doping suspensions and breakdowns.

“This is part of racing and it’s the cruel part,” Mike Repole, co-owner of Forte, said in an interview with FanDuel TV.

Chloe’s Dream, a 3-year-old gelding, and Freezing Point, a 3-year-old colt, were injured in their races on the Derby undercard, becoming the sixth and seventh horses to have died at Churchill Downs…