Forever Young Scores Repeat Victory in the Saudi Cup

On Saturday, Feb. 14, top Japanese racehorse Forever Young defended his Saudi Cup title to win the race back-to-back. The 5-year-old horse became the first horse ever to win the world’s richest race, rated International Grade I, valued at about $20 million U.S. dollars, and run at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on dirt at a distance of 1800 meters. Ridden by his regular jockey, Ryusei Sakai, and trained by Yoshito Yahagi, he finished with a time of 1:51.3, under ideal fast track conditions. Competing against a seasoned field of thirteen of the world’s best dirt horses and starting as the favorite with 7-5 odds, he defeated the U.S.-trained 5-year-old Nysos, a top contender with 4-1 odds, by one length.

Starting in stall three, Forever Young broke cleanly from the gate to settle close to the front of the pack for much of the race, sitting comfortably behind the early leaders. In the homestretch, he launched to the front, fighting with Nysos all the way down to the last furlong before overtaking him to claim victory. This race was Forever Young’s first start since winning the prestigious Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar Racetrack in the United States.

Owned by Susumu Fujita and bred in Japan, Forever Young now has an incredible record of 11 wins in 14 starts, with three podium finishes. Besides his Breeders’ Cup Classic victory, where he beat defending champion Sierra Leone by a half-length and gave Japan its very first win in North America’s richest race, and his first Saudi Cup victory last year, where he narrowly took victory by a neck over Hong Kong champion Romantic Warrior, he has also won the Grade II UAE Derby, and the Japan Dirt Classic in his native country of Japan, making him one of the world’s most elite dirt horses.

After the race, Forever Young’s jockey Sakai commended the horse’s performance, saying, “He’s an amazing horse, two times in the Saudi Cup, and I just trust him. I had no worries, there was no pressure…I’m very proud of him, and I want to thank everyone who supported the team. Yahagi, the horse’s trainer, felt the same. He said, “[Forever Young] gave me an unbelievable feeling all the time through the race…I think the horse is just made like a champion, and I have little to do with it.” He also said he felt some pressure before the race because Forever Young was considered the best in the field, but he still saw the win as proof of Forever Young’s outstanding natural talent.

Forever Young’s victory is significant not just for him, but also for Japanese racing in general. As the first horse to win consecutive Saudi Cups and the first Japanese-bred and trained horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, he has placed Japan on horse racing’s international map. So far, his trainer has dominated the races in Saudi Arabia, racking up seven victories in the meeting. Observers in the horse racing world have said that Japan’s massive investment in breeding and training horses is paying off worldwide, from America to Dubai, and he now joins other Japanese racing stars in history, including Deep Impact, Orfevre, Panthalassa, and Victoire Pisa.

Preparing for the rest of the season, Forever Young’s connections have already eyed the $12 million USD Dubai World Cup, run on dirt at a distance of 2000 meters at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates, with the next edition scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 28, 2026. If Forever Young can continue his great performance and form at Meydan next month, it would be a fitting race to close off his remarkable international campaign. For now, his second Saudi Cup victory stands as a very proud moment in both the history of Japanese and international horse racing as a whole.