All eyes on Forever Young as Jockey Club Gold Cup begins new era at Belmont
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ELMONT, N.Y. – It will not be the epic showdown of champions Forever Young and Sovereignty that was once the promise of a Jockey Club Gold Cup that would have been a most memorable way to open the new Belmont Park on Friday.
But the presence alone of Japanese superstar Forever Young makes the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup a must-see event whether you’re among the fortunate 6,000 or so folks invited or ticketed to attend opening day at the renovated Belmont, or if you tune into FOX during its 90-minute broadcast beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern. Post time for the Gold Cup is approximately 4:14 p.m.
In both victory and defeat, Forever Young in his 15-race career has given many memorable performances. He has come within a head of becoming the first Japan-based horse to win the Kentucky Derby in 2024 and he defeated Sierra Leone and Fierceness in the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic, a victory which helped exact revenge for finishing third behind those two horses in the 2024 BC Classic.
Forever Young owns back-to-back victories in the $20 million Saudi Cup, beating Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior in 2025 and Nysos, a multiple North American Grade 1 winner this year. Both of those horses have since retired.
Among those anxious to see Forever Young race for the first time since his one-length defeat to Magnitude in the Dubai World Cup in March is Ryusei Sakai, the jockey who has ridden the horse in all 15 of his races.
“I thought his peak was last year,” Sakai said. “Now, he’s improving more compared to last year.”
Sakai spoke Tuesday after putting Forever Young through an eye-catching, five-furlong workout in 1:02.01 which included a 34.08 second final three furlongs. Any lingering thoughts about Forever Young’s fitness, having not raced in six months, should be laid to rest after that move.
“He’s much fitter at this stage than he was last year,” said Hiroshi Ando, traveling manager for trainer Yoshito Yahagi and owner Susumu Fujita.
Last year, Forever Young used a prep in Japan to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup. According to Ando, both Yahagi and Fujita were more interested in the Jockey Club this time around.
“It is very hard to make decision for [having] a prep race in Japan or here but each race for him is very important,” Ando said. “Only thing we can say is [the] Jockey Club Gold Cup is a historic Grade 1, which is different compared to a Japan [Grade] 2. Also, the owner wanted to run here and Yahagi too.”
Forever Young has the outside post in what is now a five-horse field after the scratches of Chunk of Gold and Banishing.
Those two were the latest in a series of defections that began with the news that Sovereignty would miss the race due to a foot abscess. Nitrogen, the 3-year-old filly champion of 2025, was briefly considered for the Gold Cup before her connections settled on the Beldame here on Sept. 25. Money Game, another horse with solid credentials, was ruled out after suffering an injury.
While all of this juggling leaves Forever Young a probable 1-5 favorite in the Gold Cup, it also leaves Phileas Fogg as the lone speed in the field. Phileas Fogg has shown an affinity for 1 1/4 miles – the distance of the Jockey Club – and he ran the best race of his career in the Grade 2 Suburban, a race he won by 10 lengths, earning a 114 Beyer Speed Figure, on July 4 at Saratoga.
Gustavo Rodriguez, who trains Phileas Fogg for Steve Shapiro’s Jupiter Stable, is not conceding the race to Forever Young.
“Those two scratches, two less problems, but still we got to run a good race to beat Forever Young,” Rodriguez said. “You know that horse is good. I think we’re going to be loose on the lead and hope he can do it.”
Following the Suburban, Phileas Fogg was mentioned as a possible starter for the Whitney. Ultimately, Rodriguez felt the horse would benefit from more time and he felt that is indeed the case.
“The way he’s coming into the race, he looks as good as he did when he won the Suburban,” Rodriguez said. “He’s training good, eating good, looks good, everything is beautiful. Everybody knows Forever Young, but we like our chances, especially with the way the horse is doing right now.”
Phileas Fogg will break from post 3 under Kendrick Carmouche.
With Sovereignty on the sideline with a foot abscess, Bill Mott has the pair of Baeza and Stars and Stripes in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, a race the Hall of Fame trainer has won four times.
This year, Baeza is winless in three starts, breaking poorly in each of them. Mott is taking the blinkers off Baeza, equipment he has worn in his last 11 starts.
In blinkers, “it seems like he gets a little tense,” said Mott, who hopes the change helps the horse break better.
Baeza, most notably in his maiden victory in February 2025 when trained by John Shirreffs, has raced close to the pace, but still, he’s done his best work when he rallies late in races.
“I don’t think you can make a plan with him because you don’t know if he’s going to break or not,” Mott said. “Whatever you do, you have to decide when the gates open. That’ll be left up to the jock.”
Junior Alvarado, who rode Baeza in his second-place finish in the Alysheba at Churchill in May, has the call.
Stars and Stripes has won three of his last four starts, including the Birdstone Stakes at 1 3/4 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 13. His lone loss over the last six months came in the Suburban, where he finished eighth, 17 1/2 lengths behind Phileas Fogg.
“This is a million-dollar race, it’s a short field, hoping to get a piece of it,” Mott said. “We know he can run; he’s run some good races before. All due respect to Baeza and Forever Young, I’m game and my owners are game to give it a try.”
John Velazquez, a four-time Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, including last year aboard Antiquarian, rides Stars and Stripes from post 2.
Render Judgment, trained by Kenny McPeek, is coming off a runner-up finish in a second-level allowance on Aug. 21 at Saratoga.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup goes as race 5 on a nine-race card that begins at 1:30 p.m.
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