Forever Young (JPN)
There aren’t too many horses in the history of horse racing that have won Group 1 races on 3 separate continents. There are even fewer who have managed to achieve that feat in less than 12 months. Forever Young did both last year. He is a special race horse. It takes a remarkable horse to win a Breeders’ Cup Classic in any year, but to do it after coming up short the year before and having taken in racing in Japan, Dubai and Saudi Arabia in between was an unbelievable end to 2025 for the connections of Forever Young.
He was beaten turning for home in this race last season. When the great Romantic Warrior swept by around the turn and took a decent lead into the final couple of furlongs, the race looked over and I’m sure that James McDonald felt that he was about to steer the Hong Kong Champion to a Saudi Cup success. However, Forever Young knuckled down under Ryusei Sakai and as they reached the final furlong pole the gap began to close. “Relentless” is the best word to describe Forever Young in the straight at Riyadh as he slowly but surely got himself back on terms with Romantic Warrior to put his head in front in the final strides. This was a race for the ages as 2 of the best racehorses in the world pulled 10 lengths clear of the rest to produce the best renewal of the Saudi Cup that we have seen (so far). Romantic Warrior recorded a longer peak average stride length (24.93 ft) and a higher peak average stride frequency figure (2.34 per second) than Forever Young but it didn’t matter. Yoshito Yahagi’s charge had the figures where it really mattered. A better final furlong, a faster late speed figure of 35.23 mph a run-out speed of 32.86 mph. Both of the latter figures were made all the more remarkable given the way the race panned out and how hard Forever Young had to work to get to Romantic Warrior and had he achieved nothing else in 2025, it would still have been a fantastic return, but Forever Young was only just getting started.
At first glance, the Infographic above and the data within might suggest that Forever Young wasn’t the best horse in the 2025 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. Sierra Leone had a longer stride (a peak average of 26.41 ft), Fierceness had a higher peak average stride frequency (2.5 strides per second) and the pair of them had faster late speed figures than the 36.62 mph recorded by Forever Young. Journalism (4th) and Mindframe (5th) were faster on the clock in the middle part of the race and at every stage of the contest there was a horse who ran a faster furlong split than Forever Young. All of the data would lead us to the conclusion that had he been beaten in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, as he was in 2024, there would have been reasons to explain it. Forever Young didn’t read that script. He battled hard to get into a prominent position and worked just as hard to hold off the challengers that came up on his outside around the far turn. Once into the straight he kicked for home and despite the imposing figure of the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone coming at him, he held on to deliver a famous victory for Japanese racing.
We can spend a lot of time debating who is the best racehorse in the world. Brilliant cases can be made for Sovereignty, Calandagan, Ka Ying Rising and others. Forever Young is in that bracket. He has consistently overcome the odds and outperformed rivals who often came into the race with stronger form claims. I have no doubt that he was the best horse to run on the dirt in 2025 and his form reflects that. He faces a new challenge on Saturday as he bids to make history by retaining his Saudi Cup crown. If he wins on Saturday, and our data suggests that there is every chance that he will, then his name will be forever associated with the Saudi Cup and rightly so. What Forever Young achieved in 2025 was one of the most remarkable campaigns in the history of the sport and if he can carry that form into 2026, he will become one of the all-time greats.