FOREVER YOUNG CLOSING IN ON ROMANTIC WARRIOR'S ALL-TIME PRIZE-MONEY EARNINGS RECORD

By Graham Potter | Saturday, September 19, 2026

The mighty Forever Young has romped home to an untroubled victory in the US$1-million Group 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup over 2000m on dirt over dirt at New York’s Belmont Park.

No other result was ever expected as only three other runners took up the daunting option of taking on the Japanese superstar and the 3.25 length margin of victory aptly summed up the ease with which the Yoshito Yahagi trained runner was able to dominate proceedings.

This win was Forever Young’s twelfth win from sixteen starts and it took his career earnings to US$32.3 million as he pushes towards the massive all-time prize-money earnings record of US$36.8million raked in by the recently retired Romantic Warrior.

The Gold Cup win, which was also Forever Young’s fifth Group 1 win, carried a confirmed ‘win and you are in’ entry status into the Breeders’ Cup Classic to be held at Lexington’s Keeneland Racecourse on October 31.

With the 2025 Japanese Racehorse Of The Year cruising though this lead-up run to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Forever Young appears to be right on track to give a spirited defence of his Breeders’ Cup Classic crown, having taken out the 2025 edition of the event at Del Mar racetrack in California where he became the first Japanese horse to win the $7 million feature race.

This route follows a departure from the path Forever Young followed last year.

In 2025 Forever Young was prepared back home in Japan a month before the Breeders’ Cup. This time around, Yahagi brought Forever Young to the United States more than seven weeks ahead of his Breeders’ Cup assignment.

“I am very happy to have seen him win on this historic day,” said Yahagi. “Considering that he was returning from a spell, he wasn’t at his best. I think fitness-wise, he was closer to 80 percent and I do aim to see him improve before the Breeders’ Cup Classic.”

Amongst other successes, Forever Young is a two-time winner of the US$20 million Group 1 Saudi Cup and that 2025 the Breeders’ Cup Classic win.

When the dust has settled on this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic … all things being equal … an attempt at a Saudi Cup three-peat might well be too tempting an option for Forever Young’s connections to turn down.

“As a trainer, of course I want to run him in the Saudi Cup, but it’s not my decision,” Yahagi told Idol Horse, adding light-heartedly, that, “the stud farm will be angry” (if the horse never retires).

And then in all seriousness Yahagi stated, “I think he’s that type of horse that I can never encounter again in my whole life.”