Today, Gaudy goes by another five-letter name, Forte, and Moore only watches him from afar. But that doesn’t diminish her anticipation for this weekend.

The 149th Kentucky Derby, the first of thoroughbred racing’s annual Triple Crown events, runs Saturday at Louisville’s famed Churchill Downs. There, more than 150,000 fans are expected to be on hand to experience what has long been dubbed “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports.”

For the first time in her life, Moore, 69, will be among the festive crowd, cheering on Forte as the 3-year-old colt enters the race as the early betting favorite.

“I would never have dreamed of producing a Derby contender,” Moore said “but it’s certainly exciting and it’ll be fun to see him run.”

Moore received her master’s degree in English from UVA in 1978. Still seeking a profession that best suited her, she enrolled in the University’s School of Law two years later. She graduated in 1983, launching a successful 30-year career as an employee benefits lawyer with Covington & Burling in D.C.

Upon retirement from law, Moore returned to her childhood love of horses, moved to the country, and embarked on a horse breeding career that has already turned notable.

“It’s a lot of fun and very gratifying to know that the plan I had all those years ago has miraculously worked the way I hoped it would work,” Moore said.

Moore, who grew up around horses in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a commercial breeder, meaning she intends to sell most of the foals she produces. The path to Forte, who has won six times in seven career races, began with Queen Caroline, Moore’s first horse purchase in 2014.

Acquired at a yearling auction in Kentucky, Queen Caroline seemed “very light on her feet” and had an “elastic way of moving,” Moore said. “Looked to me that she could run.”

That premonition proved true. From 2015 to 2018, Queen Caroline amassed more than $400,000 in winnings before Moore retired her from racing and began the breeding process.

In searching for Queen Caroline’s mate, Moore said she was “looking for a stallion that could produce a successful racehorse, but also one that could produce a commercially appealing horse for auctions.”

Moore was led to Violence, a Kentucky-based stallion with a proven pedigree and more than $600,000 in racetrack winnings.

A foal of Queen Caroline and Violence, Forte was born on Feb. 3, 2020, in Kentucky. By May of that year, Forte and his mother were together on Moore’s South Gate Farm in Millwood, where the young horse was showing signs of potential.

“He was an athletic foal, and that’s important,” Moore said. “He was very well-made, and that’s also important because you need a horse to stand up to the pressure of racing and stay sound, which he has done. And that’s what Queen Caroline did. She was a very sound racehorse.”

As her name suggests, Queen Caroline also has a strong personality. It didn’t take long for Moore to notice that trait in Forte.

“The other quality that a horse needs to be successful is the desire to win, and a certain degree of competitiveness,” Moore said. “And I think Forte had that as a foal. He was the leader of his group of foals [at South Gate Farm]. He was the top dog and I think that comes through on the track.

“He gets that from his mother. She’s the boss of any field she’s in. He has that quality about him.”

Moore sold her foal for $80,000 in November 2020. He was sold again a year later for $110,000 to his current owners, New York businessmen Mike Repole and Vincent Viola, who gave him the registered name “Forte.”

Moore, who has no regrets about selling Forte, has since watched the foal she raised turn into a star.

Forte enters the Kentucky Derby – a race of the top 3-year-old thoroughbreds in the sport – on a five-race win streak.

“I’m very proud of him,” said Moore, who was in Lexington, Kentucky, last November to see Forte win a Breeders’ Cup race. “It’s exciting to see him succeed. It’s like seeing your children go off to college and become successful in whatever career they have.”

While Moore will place a bet on Forte to win the Derby, her only other potential financial gain from his success comes in the increased value of Queen Caroline’s future foals.

Nonetheless, a fun Saturday afternoon is expected not only for Moore and the family and friends joining her in Louisville, but for those cheering Forte on back in Millwood and in the UVA community.

It’s not lost on Moore how her UVA Law education provided the proper springboard into a lucrative career that allowed her to buy a farm and begin her horse breeding business.

It’s all part of a chain of events that led to Forte.

“Forte’s got all of Clarke County behind him,” Moore said. “It’ll be good to have all of UVA behind him as well.”