Talk about a statement win on a huge day, then talk about a wild reaction! On Friday, Belmont Park threw open its doors after a three-year, $555 million facelift, and Japanese superstar Forever Young absolutely delivered. This 5-year-old phenom, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, crushed the Jockey Club Gold Cup with an easy 3 ¼-length victory over a short field of just three rivals. He bagged a cool $1 million, pushing his insane career earnings past the $32 million mark. You’d think his trainer, Yoshito Yahagi, would be popping champagne, right? Nope. He said he was only “50% satisfied” with the performance. Seriously, what?!
Winning Isn’t Always Enough When You’re This Good
Yahagi was straight up with his feelings, speaking through a translator, saying he was “100% satisfied” with the win, obviously, but “Forever Young, performance-wise, I’m not happy.” He even laid out the stats: “Physically, we think (his) fitness is 80% … but, performance-wise, it was not enough for me.” This horse just won a Grade 1, $1 million race by over three lengths, and his trainer is still thinking, “meh.” That tells you everything you need to know about the kind of talent we’re talking about here. Yahagi even marveled, “I think I will never see again a horse (like this) in my life and my career.” This horse is something special, even when he’s apparently not at his best.
Easy Travel for a Champion, But What’s Next?
Jockey Ryusei Sakai had a much simpler take on the race, saying Forever Young “had quite the response at the top of the (stretch). It was easy travel for him when I asked him.” And it looked easy. Forever Young sat off pacesetter Phileas Fogg, then made a smooth, sweeping move on the far turn to take the lead. There wasn’t some jaw-dropping, devastating burst that left everyone in the dust, but he still cruised across the wire in two minutes, 1.23 seconds for the comfortable victory. Stars and Stripes came in second, with Baeza snagging third after a slow start, ahead of a fading Phileas Fogg. Yahagi chalked up his disappointment to the layoff; this was Forever Young’s first race since a runner-up finish at the Dubai World Cup way back in late March, nearly six months ago.
Now, Yahagi is looking for more. Forever Young is set to train at Belmont for the next month before shipping to Keeneland in October. His next big goal is massive: six weeks from now, he’s aiming to become only the second horse ever, alongside Tiznow, to win back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Classic titles. If he can pull that off, even with a “50% satisfied” performance, just imagine what he’ll do at 100%. The pressure is on, and everyone is watching to see if this incredible horse can make history.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
Leave a Reply