Driver Mike Forte wants to make you an offer you can’t refuse.

Forte has the rail with 5-2 morning-line favorite Velvety Smooth in Monday’s Godfather Pace.

“I took a quick look at the race, handicapped the race and it looked like [Velvety Smooth], from the spot she’s in has a great shot,” Forte said.

Forte, currently ranked third in the driver standings at Monticello, thinks the field is evenly matched, so no one has a big advantage. Not even two-time winner and defending Godfather champ Jim Marohn, who drives Biding Her Time.

“She’s as good as [Velvety Smooth], [but] she doesn’t have the rail,” Forte said.

“I expect [Velvety Smooth] to be able to leave from the gate pretty much whatever she can,” he added. “You never know, it’s a horse race, but I expect her to be in control and either sit behind the horse I want to sit behind or cut the mile.”

The Godfather Pace, featuring drivers of Italian descent, is part of Monticello’s year-long Heritage Drivers Series. The winners of each leg will return in the fall to compete one more time in the All America Cup.