Saudi Cup (G1)
"Forever Young"
Some horses can produce a single top class performance. Others can produce a couple. Perhaps once or twice in a decade a horse will come along who produces several such performances in a row when they are at their peak. However, in order to be remembered as one of the true greats of the sport, it takes more than one or two performances at the very highest level. It takes a level of consistency and improvement that is found rarely. The names of those horses are never forgotten. The generation before mine talks about horses like Dancing Brave and Shergar. The one before that would discuss Secretariat and Mill Reef. My own generation would always come back to Frankel, Sea the Stars, American Pharoah and Zarkava. For those lucky enough to be at the King Abdulaziz racecourse in Riyadh on Saturday evening, the name of Forever Young may well be added to that illustrious list.
In his 3-year-old season, Forever Young had slipped slightly under the radar. A 3rd placed finish in the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic were superb efforts, but since stepping out as a 4-year-old he has improved beyond all recognition. His victory in the Saudi Cup in 2025, when he ran down Romantic Warrior in the final furlong, was one of the best performances seen anywhere in the world last year. However, if his 2025 victory was about his bravery, then his performance to retain his crown in 2026 was about his class. Settling perfectly behind the leaders under Ryusei Sakai, he was never more than half a second behind the lead and once into the straight and getting the gaps on the inside rail, he was always likely to win. On his 2 visits to Riyadh, Forever Young has beaten the Hong Kong Champion Romantic Warrior and now the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos. Bob Baffert’s charge did his best. At a peak average of 7.98m, Nysos recorded a far longer average stride length than Forever Young as well as recording a faster top speed at 40.8 mph. For comparison, Forever Young recorded a peak average stride length of 7.56m and a top speed of 40.3 mph, but when it truly mattered, Yoshito Yahagi’s charge was far too strong.
Forever Young and Nysos both made their challenge either side of the early leader Banishing around the turn and whilst there will be some who may think that Bob Baffert’s charge was inconvenienced by covering more ground when coming wider around the turn, a closer examination of the data would suggest that Forever Young would have won regardless. The fastest horse in each of the final 3 furlong splits, Forever Young recorded a late speed figure of 34.82 mph, the fastest late speed figure in the field and within 0.41 mph of the 35.23 mph figure that he recorded 12 months ago to get the better of Romantic Warrior. Tumbarumba and Bishops Bay were closing in the final strides and both recorded run-out speeds above 31 mph, but the sectional times show that neither of them were within three-quarters of a second of the winner over the final 3 furlongs once the pace lifted on the run for home. Forever Young exuded class as he eased his way to the front, averaging 2.27 strides per second in the penultimate furlongs. Nysos matched that average figure in the 8th furlong, but either side of that his average stride frequency figures were 2.2 and 2.23 per second. Nysos is a Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner, but he simply couldn’t live with the relentless gallop in the Riyadh straight set by the reigning champion. Forever Young had battled his way to the Breeders’ Cup Classic to repel the challenge of Sierra Leone, but this time he simply outclassed Nysos and there are no reasons to think that this result could be overturned if they met again.
Forever Young is now a multiple Saudi Cup winner, to go along with his Breeders’ Cup Classic success and his Tokyo Daishoten win in his native Japan. He is the first horse to retain the Saudi Cup and is almost certainly the best horse to win the race in its short history. It is often billed as being the “World’s Richest Horse Race” but thanks to Forever Young, it can now be considered as one of the world’s best races. The result on Saturday evening and the data that goes with it should leave no doubt that the Saudi Cup has once again been won by one of the world’s great horses, Forever Young.