Forever Young wins last Japan test before BC Classic

Even though he stumbled out of the gate, Forever Young showed his class Wednesday at Ohi Racecourse to win by 1 1/4 lengths in the 26th US$483,245 Japan Dirt Classic.

It was the first race for the 3-year-old Real Steel colt since he finished a close third in the Kentucky Derby and his last before he travels to Del Mar for next month’s running of the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Owned by Susumu Fujita and trained by two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Yoshito Yahagi, Forever Young (7-10) quickly recovered from his awkward start out of post 1 in the field of 15 3-year-old colts. His regular jockey Ryusei Sakai guided him on an inside trip closely stalking the early pace set by Kashima Espada (24-1).

As the field came out of the second of two right turns, Forever Young drew even with Kashima Espada, taking the lead and drawing away inside the last 300 yards. Deep closer Mikki Flight (5-1) charged late down the middle of the track to finish second. It was another five lengths back to Sunrise Zipangu (6-1) in third. Grade 3 winner Ramjet (5-2), who had won four in a row, was a length farther behind in fourth. Shimmy Daisy (237-1) was another three-quarters of a length up the track in fifth.

The winning time on the good-rated dirt course was 2:04.1 without a run-up for the 2,000 meters, about 13 yards less than 1 1/4 miles. The early fractions were 23.7, 48.9, 1:13.6 and 1:39.2.

Forever Young, who was bred in Japan by Northern Farm, ran his record to 6: 5-0-1. His previous wins came in his October 2023 debut, a pair of 2-year-old stakes, the Saudi Derby (G3) in February and the UAE Derby (G2) in March.