Forever Young (5), ridden by jockey Ryusei Sakai, wins the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic on Breeders’ Cup Championship Saturday at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California on November 1, 2025. Rich Steele/Eclipse Sportswire/Breeders Cup

Forever Young (5), ridden by jockey Ryusei Sakai, wins the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic on Breeders’ Cup Championship Saturday at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California on November 1, 2025. Scott Serio/Eclipse Sportswire/Breeders Cup

From the Breeders’ Cup Media Team:

Forever Young (JPN) Wins a Classic Breeders’ Cup Classic

DEL MAR, Calif. (Nov. 1, 2025) – Susumu Fujita’s Forever Young (JPN) ($9), third in last

year’s race behind Sierra Leone and Fierceness, turned the tables Saturday afternoon at Del Mar

to win the 42nd running of the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) for 3-year-olds

and up by a half-length over Sierra Leone.

Trained by Yoshito Yahagi and ridden by Ryusei Sakai, Forever Young covered the mile and a

quarter over a fast track in 2:00.19. The victory is the third for Yahagi in the World

Championships and first in the Classic. It is Sakai’s first Breeders’ Cup win.

More forwardly placed than last year, Forever Young tracked in third behind Contrary Thinking

and Fierceness through opening fractions of :23.04, :45.97 and 1:10.48.

Approaching the far turn, Sakai gave Forever Young his cue and he swept to the front with

Mindframe and Journalism also on the move and Fierceness saving ground on the inside. Forever

Young maintained a safe margin over Fierceness and then was able to hold the late charge from

Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone finished a length in front of Fierceness who was 2 ¼ lengths in front of Journalism

with Mindframe, Baeza, Nevada Beach, Antiquarian and Contrary Thinking following in order.

Forever Young is a 4-year-old son of Real Steel (JPN) out of the Congrats mare Forever Darling.

The victory was worth $3,640,000 and increased his earnings to $19,358,590 with a record of

13-10-0-3 that includes three Grade or Group 1 wins.

# # #

Quotes:Winning owner Susumu Fujita (Forever Young (JPN)) –

“My dream has come true, winning

the Breeders’ Cup Classic. It was also the last opportunity to race against great 4-year-old, Sierra

Leone and Fierceness as they are going to retire. Great to win the race against them as well.”

Winning trainer Yoshito Yahagi (Forever Young (JPN)) – “Training horses doesn’t usually

go as I planned. He was 75% fit in his last appearance in the Nihon TV Hai and we were aiming

to get him 100% fit here for the Classic. It went as I planned and he is a great horse who can

make my plan real. He will stay in training and we would like to win all races he will run all over

the world. The 2026 Classic at Keeneland is of course one of our options but it will be chilly in

Kentucky!”

Winning jockey Ryusei Sakai (Forever Young (JPN)) – “He was in great shape. I was

confident and raced in that prominent position. The race pace wasn’t slow at all but definitely

easier than last year’s crazy pace. He isn’t a horse that handles tight bends very well and Del

Mar’s homestretch isn’t long so we were preparing and training him for that. Whatever the way

the race goes, I was only thinking about passing the winning post first.”

Second-place trainer Chad Brown (Sierra Leone) –

“Huge run. Look, the winner ran a terrific

race. He was up on the pace and kicked. I think the track played against us today. Not to take

anything away from the winner, but it’s been speed all day. I’m so proud of my horse’s effort. So

courageous to run against the bias and nearly get there. Listen, him and Forever Young are

closely related and they’ve had a wonderful rivalry from the Derby on and today it was Forever

Young’s day to find the winner’s circle and hats off to them. They’ve really done a good job of

bringing this horse back and he really fought on. Even though the track played against us,

Flavien (Prat) thought he had him measured and Forever Young just found a little more late. A

deserving winner.”

Second-place jockey Flavien Prat (Sierra Leone) – “I thought I was going to get there and the

winner just didn’t stop. I was comfortable… turning for home, I really thought I was going to

make a big run, which he did, but I just couldn’t get by the winner.

“I’m very grateful to have been around such a good horse. He ran a good race again today.”

Third, fifth, and eighth-place trainer Todd Pletcher (Fierceness, Mindframe, and

Antiquarium) – “(Fierceness) was in a difficult position. He’s inside of the pacemaker, so you

either have to commit to try to make the lead and have a pacemaker pushing you or try to settle

into a spot. He settled into a comfortable spot. He seemed like he was handling it pretty well.

Johnny said the Japanese horse was kind of pushing him around around the far turn. He finally,

finally got clear when some horses went on the outside. He got a decent run at him. It wasn’t an

ideal scenario, but when we drew the one-hole we knew that it kind of handcuffed us a bit.

That’s just kind of the way it worked out.”

On Mindframe: “Irad thought he had an opportunity to try to go, try to go win the race and put

some pressure on the horses up front. He made his move, and then he just flattened out.”

Antiquarian: “Luis (Saez) said he was going OK until the middle of the turn, then he sort of

came off the bridle and said he didn’t push him too hard after that.”