ByGuy Martin
ByGuy Martin,
Senior Contributor.
With his victory in the 2026 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz this month, a highly successful defense of his 2025 win in that very race, Forever Young brings resounding back-to-back wins in this world’s “richest horse race” — generously endowed with $20,000,000, of which $10,000,000 goes to the winner. The veteran Japan-owned and Japan trained racer is rapidly ascending to the status of the richest horse still racing anywhere. And with more to come: Veteran trainer Yoshito Yahagi announced pretty much minutes after Forever Young’s resounding Valentine’s Day win at King Abdulaziz that they would be keeping the horse on the Gulf and heading to the Meydan for the March 28 Dubai World Cup.
Although Forever Young’s success in the Persian Gulf’s most well-endowed races have certainly added luster to his renown, those races haven’t registered in his past performances with quite the racing heft of last year’s rather surprising Breeders’ Cup Classic victory, in which he beat Sierra Leone fair and square. In fact, we might regard Sierra Leone as Forever Young’s main North American rival — they’ve met twice, once in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, in which Sierra Leone handily placed behind Mystik Dan while Forever Young showed in the race, and the following year in the 2025 Breeders’ Classic.
