Now 3-for-3, Forever Young leads Japan road to Kentucky Derby

After stalking the early pace, undefeated Forever Young took the lead on the backstretch and accepted the second-turn challenge from Aigle Noir before powering to a seven-length victory Wednesday night in the US$492,089 Nisai Yushun. The win in the one-mile dirt race moved Forever Young into the lead on the Japan road to Kentucky Derby 2024.

Trained by two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Yoshito Yahagi, the colt by Real Steel out of the Congrats mare Forever Darling overcame the widest post in the field of a dozen 2-year-olds racing on the left-handed, dirt course at Kawasaki Racecourse.

Forever Young broke outward from the gate, but his regular jockey Ryusei Sakai confidently angled him forward in the long run to the first turn, putting him within two lengths of early pacesetter Oscar Brain.

Going into the far turn, Forever Young and Aigle Noir went around tiring Oscar Brain with Saint Honore making his move along the rail into third. As they straightened into the homestretch, Forever Young found another gear and extended his lead. After one right-handed strike of his crop, Sakai looked over his right shoulder to go to see how much the lead had grown before wrapping up Forever Young in the last 100 yards.

Sent off as the on-track, even-money favorite, Forever Young was clocked at 1:43.5 without a run-up for the race that covered 1,600 meters, 10 yards short of a mile. He went the last 600 meters, roughly three furlongs, in 40.1 seconds on a course rated good.

Aigle Noir finished second, 2 1/2 lengths better than third-place Saint Honore. Nasty Weather was another length back in fourth. Satono Phoenix finished one more length up the track in fifth.

The top five finishers got 20-10-6-4-2 points on the Japan road to the Kentucky Derby. Forever Young, with 20 points, moved into the lead in those standings. Aigle Noir is tied for second with last month’s Cattleya Sho winner Amante Bianco, each with 10 points. The Japan path carries one invitation to the May 4 run for the roses.

With Wednesday’s win in Japan’s second-level National Association of Racing, Forever Young ran his record to 3-for-3, all against 2-year-olds. He made his debut with a four-length win as the second betting choice against 13 other top-level newcomers in a 1 1/8-mile race Oct. 14 at Kyoto. As the 6-5 favorite in his next race Nov. 3, he came from far back to win by 1 1/2 lengths against 11 NAR rivals going 1 1/8 miles at Mombetsu.

Bred in Japan by Northern Farm, Forever Young is owned by communications magnate Susumu Fujita.

With the point value of each race increasing as the series goes forward, the Japan road to the Derby continues with the Hyacinth at Tokyo on Feb. 18 and concludes with the Fukuryu on March 12 at Nakayama.