Florida
Florida Derby 2023 Results: A Come-From-Behind Triumph For Forte, Mage Places, Cyclone Mischief Shows
In an exhilarating, mature demonstration of pure racing coronary heart, the 1-5 favourite Forte went broad beneath Irad Ortiz to overhaul Cyclone Mischief and Mage within the final sixteenth of a mile to take the Florida Derby on Saturday. Forte couldn’t have delivered a extra emphatic declare to be the very best colt sure for the Kentucky Derby to return out of the preps. He paid an expectedly low $2.80.
Underneath Ortiz, the colt broke properly from the eleventh stall within the gate, far to the surface and settled into ninth earlier than slowly working his manner up via the sector up the backstretch. “Going to the quarter pole, he gave me feeling,” stated the Corridor of Fame jockey in attribute understatement. “And he was able to roll.”
Ortiz took him 5 broad within the far flip, growing the gap that Forte needed to cowl by, his elated coach Pletcher estimated after the race, a sixteenth of a mile. However Forte nonetheless had a furiously hard-working Mage and the Dale Romans skilled Cyclone Mischief out in entrance poised to take the race, and Forte regarded, within the final furlong, as if he would definitely present. Which is when Ortiz discovered the afterburner change and Forte breezed by his opponents to take the wire.
“To me what was most spectacular have been the final hundred yards. He got here by me on the eighth pole, he regarded crushed,” stated Pletcher.
Though Forte’s victory was extensively awaited, its derring-do, its energy and the way wherein the colt delivered it within the final hundred yards have been under no circumstances on the agenda, and that greater than something ramped up the racing group’s regard in a millisecond. It was the type of victory that created followers, and positively bodes properly for a hotly anticipated Might date at Churchill, regardless of who comes via with the factors in subsequent Saturday’s races.
Which
Florida
Florida legislative leaders push back on DeSantis’ call for special session on immigration
MIAMI – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling for a special legislative session to align state policies with President-elect Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on illegal immigration, but the move has drawn resistance from Republican leaders in the state legislature.
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton sent a joint letter Monday dismissing the notion of a special session as “premature” and criticizing the governor’s proposals as lacking substance.
The session is currently scheduled for the week of Jan. 27, shortly after Trump’s inauguration.
“As you know, this Legislature will address illegal immigration, condominiums, petition initiatives and hurricane recovery this session, which starts in 50 days. Calling a special session at this time is premature,” the letter reads.
Republican leaders emphasized their support for Trump and his immigration agenda but argued that acting without detailed guidance from the federal government could hinder the incoming administration’s efforts.
“It is completely irresponsible to get out ahead of any announcements President Trump will make, especially when uninformed or ill-timed state action could potentially impair or impede the success of President Trump’s forthcoming efforts to end illegal immigration, close our borders and protect the sovereignty of our nation,” they wrote.
The letter also took issue with the governor’s approach, saying he had presented only “fragments of ideas” without actual bill language or meaningful details for lawmakers to consider.
Read the memo in its entirety:
Florida
SpaceX launches Monday morning Starlink mission from cloudy Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Brevard Space Coast launch sites rockets spaceX ULA NASA
A quick look at which rockets lift off from various Brevard launch sites.
Cloaked by cloud cover, a rumbling SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket promptly vanished from view from various vantage points across the Space Coast swiftly after liftoff Monday morning.
SpaceX’s Starlink 12-4 mission vaulted from Launch Complex 40 at 11:47 a.m. EST at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Monday’s Starlink liftoff took place about 8½ hours after Blue Origin crews scrubbed their early morning bid to launch the first New Glenn rocket on its historic maiden mission from nearby Launch Complex 36.
The SpaceX liftoff — which deployed 21 Starlink internet satellites into low-Earth orbit — clocked in as the fifth orbital rocket launch thus far during the 2025 calendar year from Florida’s Space Coast. Last year saw a new annual record of 93 launches established at the Cape.
Unlike during Monday’s early morning New Glenn launch window, patches of significant cloud cover raced eastward across Central Florida and North Florida before the SpaceX liftoff, as seen in a National Weather Service radar loop from the Melbourne Orlando International Airport station.
The Starlink mission marked the Falcon 9 first-stage booster’s 15th flight. The booster previously launched Ax-2, Ax-3, CRS-30, SES 24, NG-21, Euclid and eight Starlink missions, SpaceX reported.
Following stage separation, the booster settled for a landing on the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Grativas out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Next SpaceX launch coming up Wednesday
SpaceX will next launch Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost moon lander for NASA atop a Falcon 9 at 1:11 a.m. Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
“After the launch, Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander will spend approximately 45 days in transit to the Moon before landing on the lunar surface in early March. The lander will carry 10 NASA science investigations to further our understanding of the Moon’s environment and help prepare for future human missions to the lunar surface, as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach,” a NASA media advisory said.
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and KSC, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
Space is important to us and that’s why we’re working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.
Florida
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket launches from Florida
Why does Amazon founder Jeff Bezos want to explore space?published at 05:42 Greenwich Mean Time
For most, Jeff Bezos is best known for being the founder of the successful e-commerce company Amazon.
In under three decades, the billionaire successfully transformed the once “famously unprofitable” business to one of a handful in the world to be valued at over $2 trillion.
During that time, however, Bezos has also shown an interest in the world beyond business.
Bezos has joined a number of other tech entrepreneurs to enter what has been dubbed as the billionaire space race.
Bezos previously said his aims were to “build a road to space so our kids and their kids can build the future.”
“We need to do that to solve the problems here on Earth,” he added.
Blue Origin, the aerospace technology company founded by Bezos, says it was founded “with a vision of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth.”
However, there are plenty of critics of Bezos’ endeavour, with some describing the billionaire space race as a ‘waste of money’ that would be better spent on the climate crisis.
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