Forever Young

Saturday, Meydan, UAE, post time: 8.45 p.m., DUBAI WORLD CUP SPONSORED BY EMIRATES AIRLINE-G1, $12,000,000, NH4yo/up, SH3yo, 2000m Field: Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steal {Jpn}), Magnitude (Not This Time), Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), Meydaan (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), Imperial Emperor (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Tumbarumba (Oscar Performance), Walk Of Stars (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), Heart Of Honor (GB) (Honor A. P.), Tap Leader (Tapiture). TDN Analysis: A disappointing third to Hit Show last spring, Forever Young has another chance to become the first horse to complete the Saudi Cup/Dubai World Cup double,...

Reigning Japanese Horse of the Year Forever Young (Real Steel) will break from stall 6 under Ryusei Sakai in a field of nine for Saturday's $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates. Trainer Yoshito Yahagi, who drew the gate number during the post-position ceremony at Meydan Racecourse on Wednesday morning, said, "I wanted middle to outer, so I'm pleased." Last year, Forever Young could manage only third in the Dubai World Cup behind Hit Show (Candy Ride), who is drawn alongside Forever Young in gate 5 as he tries...

Reigning Japanese Horse of the Year Forever Young (Real Steel) is one of nine horses remaining for the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan on March 28. Several horses originally pointing toward the meeting have opted to skip it for different targets as the conflict in Iran has escalated. Yoshito Yahagi's star is joined by 2025 winner Hit Show (Candy Ride), Grade II winner Magnitude (Not This Time), and fellow top level winners Walk Of Stars (Dubawi) and Imperial Emperor (Dubawi). For the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, Calandagan (Gleneagles)...

Group winner Luxor Café (American Pharoah) and two compatriots landed at Japan's Kansai International Airport on St Patrick's Day, Tospo Keiba reported on Tuesday. Originally slated to run in the G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan on March 28, the full-brother to dual G1 February Stakes hero Café Pharoah will instead look to targets closer to home, as the Iranian conflict continues. One of three horses to return to the Land of the Rising Sun on Tuesday morning, he was joined by Shin Forever (Complexity) and G2 UAE Derby hope...

Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) stands firmly on top of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, which were released on Thursday. Given a mark of 128, the Hong Kong Horse of the Year is four pounds clear of his Hong Kong compatriot Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) at 124. Ka Ying Rising has rattled off a record 18-straight wins for a Hong Kong-trained horse, taking the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup over Helios Express (Toronado) (117) earlier this year before his G1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup win. Former Hong Kong Horse of the Year...

This column is not really supposed to start until the Flat turf season gets underway but we saw the sunshine in Newmarket on Monday morning for pretty much the first time this year so we're jumping the gun a little. After all, there was plenty of top-class Flat action on offer over the weekend in the Middle East and beyond, and following some frenetic race reporting on the spot in Riyadh, here are a few thoughts and breeding angles with the benefit of some time for reflection. Deep influence  With...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Darkness had long fallen over Riyadh but one star lit up the night sky as Forever Young (Real Steel) galloped into the history books as the first dual winner of the $20m G1 Saudi Cup. Last year he was forced to stalk Romantic Warrior all along the stretch for glory, but this time the tables were turned, with Nysos (Nyquist) locking sights on his prey in a determined effort to give Bob Baffert a longed-for victory in the world's richest race. Instead it once more went...

At an unspecified date in the future Saudi Arabia will have a brand new racecourse at Qiddiya City, which will eventually host the Saudi Cup, according to an announcement made earlier this week. But for now the world's richest race belongs in Riyadh. Development has continued apace at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, which has now been in operation for 24 years. Much has changed, even in the short history of the Saudi Cup, both to the infrastructure at the racecourse and in the status of some of the contests. The Saudi...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- It's what sport is all about, isn't it? Choosing your team and rooting for them, through good games and bad times.  The fleeting nature of the careers of some racehorses can make it harder to be a fan, but not if you pick Team Yahagi. For a start, there is a good chance that Yoshito Yahagi will turn up at a major meeting almost anywhere in the world with at least one horse. In Riyadh, a city which has become a happy hunting ground for the...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- Bob Baffert may have won two Triple Crowns, six Kentucky Derbys, 21 Breeders' Cup races, and four Dubai World Cups but there is an itch that still needs to be scratched: the Saudi Cup. "We've gotten pretty close," he said Thursday morning from King Abdulaziz Racecourse, and he's not wrong. Baffert has been represented in five of the six runnings of the world's richest race and has finished second twice, with Charlatan (Speightstown) then Country Grammer (Tonalist). Last year was his sole omission, and...

A horse has never won two editions of the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, and Japanese Horse of the Year Forever Young (Real Steel) will try to break into that rarefied air after drawing post position six on Wednesday, ahead of Saturday's race. Also voted a champion in the U.S. after taking the GI Breeders' Cup Classic last autumn, the likeable bay will face 13 rivals at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in a few days' time. "I think six is a good number," trainer Yoshito Yahagi said. "We don't have to change...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- The international contenders may have been out in force on Wednesday morning but there is one horse who dominates the spotlight and he has every right to it. Forever Young first set foot on King Abdulaziz racecourse two years ago when he arrived as a three-year-old to take the Saudi Derby before going on to triumph in Dubai. He was then involved in an almighty tussle at Churchill Downs, where he went down by the merest of fractions to Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone in the...