Breeders' Cup Classic: Forever Young goes for repeat, gets delayed match-up with Sovereignty
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LEXINGTON, Ky.– Twenty-five years after Tiznow did it for America, Forever Young will try to do it for the world.
It was in 2001 at Belmont Park, seven weeks after the tragic events at the World Trade Center in Manhattan, that Tiznow turned back Godolphin’s Sakhee to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic for a second consecutive year. A repeat victory in the Classic had not been done before, it has not been done since.
Whereas once upon a time, Forever Young was a Japanese sensation, he has elevated his status to global superstar. A two-time winner of the $20 million Saudi Cup, and earner of more than $32 million, Forever Young has developed quite the fan base.
He has raced in America at least once in each of the last three years. After winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar last year – beating the same two horses, Sierra Leone and Fierceness, who beat him the previous year – Forever Young is back at the Breeders’ Cup seeking another Classic victory Saturday at Keeneland.
The $7 million Classic is the richest race in North America and one of nine Breeders’ Cup races to be run Saturday at Keeneland on what is forecast to be a cloudy but dry day weather-wise.
For trainer Yoshito Yahagi, this year’s Classic hits differently.
“I think the quality of the rivals is the same as last year, but our position this year is quite different from last year,” Yahagi said Wednesday at Keeneland. “Last year, we have to take on the challenge to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But this year, I think we are in the position that everybody is targeting us, so it’s not quite easy to defend the title.”
Last year, Forever Young was coming in off a victory in a prep race in Japan. This year, Forever Young came to America in September, when he won the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in a bit of underwhelming performance.
“What he showed at Belmont Park is not good enough to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, that’s what I thought,” Yahagi said. “But I heard from the stable staff that the horse’s conditioning is improving and also he is doing good.”
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At last year’s Breeders’ Cup, Forever Young was scheduled to face Sovereignty, the 2025 Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers winner. But Sovereignty was forced to scratch with a fever.
A second potential meeting between Forever Young and Sovereignty in this year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup was scrapped when Sovereignty developed a foot abscess. But he has overcome that and now it appears to be game on.
“I have been looking forward to competing against him,” Yahagi said. “Also, beating him means becoming the real champion of America.”
Despite missing the Breeders’ Cup Classic last year, Sovereignty is North America’s reigning Horse of the Year. He lost his first two starts of 2026 but was awesome winning the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 8 at Saratoga.
Bill Mott, Sovereignty’s trainer, admitted to not being sure Sovereignty would make the Breeders’ Cup, but the last few weeks have him confident the horse is ready to compete at the highest level again.
“I couldn’t ask for anything different right now,” Mott said. “The one thing we know is if he gets a good pace up front and he likes the racetrack, he’s going to come with a good run.”
There should be pace. Part of it will be supplied by Mott’s other horse, Knightsbridge, who could be the key to the whole race. Once regarded as a miler, Knightsbridge showed his prowess around two turns with blowout victories in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup and the Grade 1 Pacific Classic.
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It wasn’t until Monday, just hours before entries, that Knightsbridge was confirmed for the Classic over the Dirt Mile. Mott said Knightsbridge is not in there just to make sure Sovereignty has pace. Both horses are owned by Godolphin, in search of its first Classic victory.
Though there is other speed in the race – Magnitude and Napoleon Solo come to mind – but Knightsbridge could be speed of the speed.
“Knightsbridge isn’t going to let anything get away from him, he’s just naturally a fast horse. You’re not going to see us taking him back off the pace,” Mott said. “We’re going to let him find his best stride where he’s comfortable, but that most likely is going to put him up very close to the pace.”
Magnitude defeated Forever Young in the Dubai World Cup and Sovereignty in the Stephen Foster. Both times he did it while racing on the front end. Magnitude was trounced by Sovereignty in the Whitney, but that was the second time that scenario has happened at Saratoga.
Trainer Steve Asmussen got Magnitude to Keeneland in late September and has loved the way he’s trained over the track, doing most of his workouts sitting off another horse.
“He tracked when he won the Clark,” Asmussen said, referring to a victory as a 3-year-old against older horses last November at Churchill Downs. “If anything, people were surprised he was on the lead in the Dubai World Cup. I think when he’s at his best, he is very prominent in the middle of the stages of the race because he’s pretty damn fast. I couldn’t be any more confident in how the preparation has went and how he looks right now.”
Flavien Prat, who won the 2022 Classic here aboard Flightline, will ride Magnitude because Jose Ortiz elected to stay with Golden Tempo, on whom he won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and who is scheduled to run again in 2027.
Golden Tempo took advantage of a strong early pace to win the Derby and the Belmont Stakes. Trainer Cherie DeVaux hopes there is enough pace to suit Golden Tempo again as he faces older horses for the first time.
“It looks like there will be pace, so that’s the positive for a horse like ours,” DeVaux said. “It doesn’t have to be a scintillating pace, but there has to be pace for us to be effective. [Knightsbridge] being in there, he is not a horse to be overlooked, but just kind of ensures there won’t be one horse going to the lead.”
Napoleon Solo has been pegged as a speed horse, though his victory in the Preakness came from a stalking position. He set the pace in both the Haskell and Travers stakes, finishing second in both.
Napoleon Solo drew the outside post in this eight-horse field, and that should give jockey John Velazquez options how to ride the race.
“You wouldn’t have wanted a better draw with the race unfolding eight-horse field and the late addition of Knightsbridge,” trainer Chad Summers said.
The Puma, trained by Gustavo Delgado, is coming off the best race of his career when he won the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing in September. That was his first race with blinkers. He has trained sensationally at Keeneland in the weeks leading up to the race.
T O Password will be the longest shot on the board in the Classic. He returns to America for the first time since he finished fifth in the same Kentucky Derby in which Forever Young was third.
A victory by T O Password would trigger tremors. One by Forever Young would trigger a celebration.
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