Let’s be brutally honest. If a horse had won the Saudi Cup twice, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and was about to line up for the richest dirt race on the planet with a chance to become the highest-earning racehorse in history and that horse was trained in Newmarket or Lambourn it would be front page news on every racing paper in the country. But Forever Young is Japanese. And so, somehow, most of British racing’s casual fanbase has absolutely no idea they are watching the best horse on the planet go about his business. That changes today.
Forever Young has won 11 of his 14 races. He is the first Japanese-born and trained horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and the first horse in history to win consecutive runnings of the Saudi Cup. Let that sink in for a moment. The Saudi Cup is a $20 million race. He’s won it back to back. The Breeders’ Cup Classic is America’s most prestigious dirt showpiece, had never been won by a Japanese-trained horse before Forever Young showed up and did it first time of asking. He can also boast winning form at Meydan, having taken the UAE Derby two years ago, so this is no stranger to the Dubai stage either. This horse hasn’t just turned up and got lucky. He has gone to Saudi Arabia, to America, to Dubai, to Japan and he has delivered on the biggest stages the sport has to offer, time and time again. And he is only five years old.
Here is the thing about Forever Young that makes his Dubai World Cup mission this Saturday so fascinating. He’s not unbeatable. He proved that last year when he finished a one-paced third behind the American-trained Hit Show at Meydan. For a horse of his quality, it was a shock result that his connections didn’t try to dress up. Trainer Yoshito Yahagi complained to Dubai Racing Club officials about the pre race test barn procedures, saying they upset both Forever Young and his groom, his only defeat in four races in 2025. Strip that away, and you are left with a horse who has an enormous point to prove on the Meydan dirt this weekend. Yahagi has been direct about it: “Last year, it didn’t work out in the Dubai World Cup, he just wasn’t good enough. We will try our best to win it this year.” That is a refreshingly honest admission from a trainer who has nothing left to prove at this level and it tells you everything about the hunger driving this campaign.
This isn’t just about winning a race. Victory in the 30th Dubai World Cup will see the dual Saudi Cup winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic hero surpass Romantic Warrior as the highest earning racehorse of all time. The highest-earning racehorse. Of all time. In history. That is what is at stake on Saturday at Meydan. And yet somehow the Grand National weights announcement got more column inches in the British racing press this week. Make of that what you will. Even UAE champion trainer Bhupat Seemar who has two of his own runners in the race couldn’t help himself: “Forever Young is the best horse in the world. You can’t take anything away from him. He’s danced every dance.” When the man trying to beat him is openly calling him the best horse in the world, that isn’t bulletin board material that is just the truth being spoken plainly.
The opposition is real and deserves respect. Defending champion Hit Show returns and should never be underestimated. The American-trained horse caused a massive upset last year and arrives in good form having won his prep race, the Mineshaft Stakes, last month. He is battle hardened, proven at Meydan, and will not be rolling over for anyone. The progressive American four year-old Magnitude also makes plenty of appeal, unbeaten in his prep and handled by a trainer in Steve Asmussen who knows exactly how to get a horse ready for Dubai. The local UAE challenge should never be dismissed either, with Seemar’s pair likely to ensure a proper gallop from the front. But here is the RHR verdict. Forever Young is a class above. A bad day at the office last year, a brilliantly managed campaign since, and a horse who his own trainer believes is still improving. The unfinished business angle is real. The history making incentive is real. And the form, Saudi Cup, Breeders’ Cup Classic, Saudi Cup again is as watertight as it gets in modern global racing.
There is a lazy assumption in some quarters of British racing that if it doesn’t happen at Cheltenham, Ascot or Newmarket, it doesn’t really matter. That is a spectacularly narrow view of a sport that is genuinely global. Forever Young is the kind of horse that comes along once in a generation. A Japanese-bred, world-travelling, history-making machine who has taken on the best that America, Europe and the Middle East has to offer and beaten almost all of them. If he wins at Meydan on Saturday, he becomes the richest racehorse who ever lived. At five years old, with his trainer hinting he is still getting better. That is not a story buried in the international pages. That is the story of the sport!
Lets go FOREVER YOUNG!!!!