Kentucky Derby races on amid 7th death, scratched favorite – The Denver Post

By BETH HARRIS (AP Racing Writer)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — 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 in recent days. Forte was the fifth scratch from the Derby in the run-up to the $3 million race for 3-year-olds.

The string of horse deaths cast a pall for some Derby-goers on a…