Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Forever Young

Forever Young

Colt by Real Steel – Forever Darling, by Congrats

Bred in Japan by Northern Racing ($720,603 JRHA select yearling and foal sale purchase by Fujita Susumu)

Japan’s Forever Young made a huge jump up to third choice on Derby Watch after clinching his spot in the Kentucky Derby field with his win in the Group 2 U.A.E. Derby at Meydan. The colt, a product of the most prominent sireline in Japan, is from a female family that has produced another of this year’s Derby Watch top choices – immediate relation Sierra Leone.

Forever Young is by Real Steel, a son of Japanese Triple Crown winner and leading sire Deep Impact. Next in the sireline is American dual classic winner Sunday Silence, who became a breed-shaping sire in Japan. Real Steel’s biggest win came in the Group 1 Dubai Turf in 2016. He also won two graded stakes and placed in several prominent Grade 1 events back in Japan. From his first two crops of racing age, Forever Young is his most prominent of three stakes winners.

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Forever Young is one of three winners from four starters out of Forever Darling, winner of the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes. His victory in the 1 3/16-mile U.A.E. Derby was the longest-distance win to date by one of her foals.

Forever Darling is out of Darling My Darling, multiple Grade 1-placed around one turn as a juvenile. She was later a multiple stakes winner, including the Doubledogdare at 1 1/16 miles as an older filly. Three of her daughters also are stakes producers, including Grade 1-winning juvenile Heavenly Love. That mare’s first foal is Sierra Leone, second choice on Derby Watch after his last-out victory in the Grade 2 Risen Star. He is the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland.

Darling My Darling is out of Grade 1 Ballerina winner Roamin Rachel, dam of Japanese Horse of the Year Zenno Rob Roy. This is the extended family of champion Indian Blessing, Grade 1 winner Cat’s Cradle, and, recently, multiple graded stakes winner Frank’s Rockette.

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