Japan’s Forever Young (Real Steel) lined up in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (Gr.1) at Belmont Park on Friday, and it produced a dominant victory by a good three lengths from Stars And Stripes (Not This Time). The field was down to just four runners, the others being Baeza (McKinzie) in third and Phileas Fogg (Astern) in fourth.
Forever Young had a highly lucrative winter in the Middle East, first landing the Saudi Cup (Gr.1) and then finishing second in the Dubai World Cup (Gr.1).
Two races that brought in more than nine million pounds.
Before that he had ended 2025 with victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr.1) at Del Mar in the United States, and those are three of the richest races in the world, which together with Friday’s win take his total earnings past 25 million pounds.
Because Forever Young had not run for almost six months, he had dropped out of the rankings altogether, but he is now second, headed only by the sprinter Ka Ying Rising from Hong Kong.
Forever Young is entered for the Prix de l’Arc in a little over ten days, but he does not figure at the top of the bookmakers’ lists, so a start looks doubtful, and it is more likely that he will instead defend his title in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Forever Young is trained by Yoshito Yahagi and was, as always, ridden by Ryusei Sakai. With Real Steel as his sire he is second generation from the great Japanese sire Deep Impact.
