HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Todd Pletcher was all smiles before and immediately after Forte’s impressive 4 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and he was still all smiles the morning after with the reigning juvenile champion and current Kentucky Derby favorite safely back in his stall at the Palm Beach Downs training center on Sunday. “He spent the night at Gulfstream Park and came back here this morning excellent, in good shape, looking super,” Pletcher said by phone from his winter headquarters after training hours on Sunday. Pletcher couldn’t have orchestrated Forte’s 3-year-old debut any more perfectly than it transpired, the odds-on favorite racing well placed behind a relatively contentious pace before tipping out four wide in the better footing on the final bend, then drawing away from his over-matched competition with authority through the stretch. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. turned the stick down and allowed the winner to coast home on his own power nearing the wire. Even the winning Beyer Speed Figure, a 98, was just about where Pletcher wanted to be with Forte in his first start back since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile four months ago and in his first of two preps prior to this year’s Kentucky Derby. :: Get ready for Gulfstream Park racing with DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports.  “Like I had said, everything leading up to the race yesterday went like we hoped, the race played out like we hoped, and he came out of it in good shape,” Pletcher said. “We carefully laid out a program that we thought would put him in position to have him ready to run while having room for improvement and to continue to develop and I think we were able to accomplish that. He ran fast enough without it being too much the first time back.” Pletcher said the $1 million Florida Derby would be the next logical step for Forte, who currently stands atop the leaderboard with 90 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby. “The Florida Derby is what we kind of talked about going into the Fountain of Youth and everything coming out of the race would indicate that’s what we’ll do,” Pletcher said. “Two breezes before the race makes sense and then that will give him five weeks until Churchill Downs.” Pletcher says having the current Derby favorite adds a little pressure to the equation, but called it welcome pressure at this stage. “I think we might have been in a similar position with Uncle Mo and Eskendereya and perhaps after the Florida Derby with Always  Dreaming,” Pletcher recalled. “But it’s certainly better than having to work your way in (to the Derby  field) at the last minute.”   Pletcher will likely also have the heavy favorite for Saturday’s Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby with the lightly raced but extremely promising Tapit Trice set to make his stakes debut in that spot. His stablemate Shesterkin is also under consideration for the race, while Sam F. Davis winner Litigate is slated to make his next start in the Louisiana Derby.  Pletcher also reported that Charge It came back “fine” following his somewhat disappointing second-place finish behind the suddenly rejuvenated 7-year-old Endorsed as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile. “He’s the kind of horse, the way he’s run before and the way he trains, you expect him to win every time,” Pletcher said. “He ran a good race against a very seasoned, hard-knocking, stakes-caliber horse yesterday. And you have to keep in mind he’s still a very lightly raced horse giving up a lot of experience against a horse who had started so many times. Maybe a race like that is exactly what he needed to bring him a step forward next time.” Pletcher said the Grade 1 Oaklawn Handicap on April 22 is still likely next on the agenda for Charge It with the Grade 1 Met Mile remaining his first major goal of the season. While Pletcher continues to experience life on racing’s biggest stages on a regular basis, such was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling for colleague Michael Yates after the veteran horseman sent out Dorth Vader to upset Saturday’s Grade 2 Davona Dale at odds of 46-1 under jockey Miguel Vasquez.  It was the first career graded stakes winner for Yates, who saddled his first horse in 1991 and has been a mainstay in South Florida the past 30 years while splitting his time between Gulfstream Park and his 50-acre Shadybrook Farm in Ocala.  “It’s a great feeling, it really hasn’t sunk in yet,” Yates said when asked about achieving the graded stakes milestone in an important Kentucky Oaks prep like the Davona Dale immediately after the race. And he was still humbled by the accomplishment when reached by phone the following morning. “I don’t know how to describe my feelings,” Yates said. “It’s very rewarding to see everybody’s hard work, day after day, achieving something like this. I don’t feel at all like it is a me thing. At the end of the day, it’s a team thing. Everybody played a huge part in it. It just happens to be my name on the shingle.” As for Dorth Vader, who received an 81 Beyer for her victory, Yates said she couldn’t have come out of the race doing any better. “She looks great, like she hadn’t done a thing. It’s rare when they come back from a race that way. Especially considering the kind of race she ran,” he said. Yates admitted the Kentucky Oaks is the dream for he and owner-breeder John Ropes at the moment with Dorth Vader. “This is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if she gives us the chance to go to the Oaks with her,” Yates said.  “We’ve discussed the Gulfstream Oaks and the Ashland as possible options for her next start. We’ll need a little time to sort that out, but in the end we’ll do what we feel is best for her.”      Trainer Phil Serpe said Sunday that he is still 'evaluating' Leave No Trace, who was eased by jockey Tyler Gaffalione at the top of the stretch in the Davona Dale while making her first start since a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies four months earlier. “She jogged sound on the road this morning, but obviously she’s got some issue, we just don’t have all the answers right now.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.