A Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) already rife with international interest bids for still more when Forever Young prepares for the big race Oct. 2 at Oi Racecourse in the Japan Dirt Classic.
The Real Steel colt faces 14 rivals in the 2,000-meter (about 1 1/4 miles) test. To say his form stands out would be a masterpiece of understatement. But it's his first race since a memorable third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby (G1), so the effort might be more the thing than the outcome.
Forever Young suffered his only defeat in six career starts in the Derby, sandwiched between the winner, Mystik Dan, on his inside and Sierra Leone on the outside. A nose and a nose separated them, and the outcome might have been impacted by repeated bumping between Forever Young and Sierra Leone in the stretch.
That performance followed victories in the Saudi Derby (G3) in February and the UAE Derby (G2) in Dubai a month later.
In Riyadh, the colt had to chase down top sprinter Book'em Danno with a desperate stretch move on a day trainer Yoshito Yahagi later admitted his horse was somewhat the worse for travel. In Dubai, he overcame a wide trip to catch an older South American-bred, Auto Bahn, for a convincing score.
Before shipping out from Japan, he won his first three starts, including the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun, a leg of the "Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby."
The opposition in the Japan Dirt Classic includes Ramjet, winner of another of the four races in the "Road" series. That Majestic Warrior colt went on to win the Tokyo Derby June 5 at Oi—his fourth straight win—by four lengths but has been on the sidelines since.
Satono Epic finished second in that Derby and returns, as does Pond Boy, who ran eighth. Pond Boy returned to win a 1,700-meter (about 1 1/16 miles) heat Sept. 9.
The Dirt Classic follows on from the Sept. 25 Nippon TV Hai at Funabashi Racecourse, where Ushba Tesoro and Derma Sotogake prepped for the Breeders' Cup Classic. Derma Sotogake, second to White Abarrio in the 2024 Classic at Santa Anita, finished fifth. Ushba Tesoro, a multiple international winner and fifth in last year's Classic, finished second at Funabashi with a belated stretch run.
Connections of both horses were pleased enough with the efforts to keep hopes alive for Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
Also satisfied with preparations is Ireland's master trainer Aidan O'Brien, who plans to have City of Troy in the Classic field after consecutive victories in the Derby (G1) at Epsom, the Coral-Eclipse (G1) at Sandown, and the Juddmonte International (G1) at York. The Classic would be his first start on dirt but the fact he's by American Triple Crown winner Justify gives hope, and a recent trial on an all-weather track, structured to somewhat resemble an American big-race scramble, also was good enough.
More foreign intrigue: The foreign-trained horses headed for Southern California could be joined by one or two others recently purchased privately by upstart Wathnan Racing, spearheaded by the Amir of Qatar.
Subsanador, purchased from his South American owners after finishing second in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) in March, earned a "Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In" spot in the Classic with a victory in the California Crown Stakes (G1) Sept. 28. Hit Show, sold to Wathnan by his breeders, Gary and Mary West, after he won the West Virginia Governor's Stakes (G3) in his last start, won the Lukas Classic Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs Sept. 28 during the busy weekend of Breeders' Cup preps.
