After all the soul-searching and angst, Romantic Warrior handled his first run on dirt just fine in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) Feb. 22. But it still wasn't good enough as a resilient Forever Young, a dirt specialist, chased him down in the final strides to win the world's richest race by a neck after being passed in early stretch.
"Romantic Warrior is a strong horse," said winning trainer Yoshito Yahagi. "Our horse was better."
In winning at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, Forever Young added the Saudi Cup to his victory in the 2024 Saudi Derby (G3)—another determined, last-strides effort. He then proceeded to take the UAE Derby (G2) in Dubai before he was an unlucky third in the Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs. He ended the year with another third in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar.
On his return to Saudi Arabia, he was not to be denied.
Forever Young crossed right over from the outside gate and raced with the leaders through the early furlongs while Romantic Warrior trailed right behind. Jockey James McDonald then edged Romantic Warrior outside the leaders five wide on the race's sole turn and turning into the stretch, the two quickly were far ahead of the rest of the field. Romantic Warrior held a clear edge, and McDonald took a couple of glances toward the massive infield television screen to eye the competition.
Behind him, after switching leads when angled outside a drifting in Romantic Warrior, Forever Young gained relentlessly.
Winning rider Ryusei Sakai said, "He jumped really well from a hard spot (in post 14), and he did a great job. Those were my kind of instructions."
It produced a matchup perhaps never to be seen again as Romantic Warrior, a 10-time group/graded winner on grass, seems destined to return to turf racing.
McDonald said he opted to put his mount outside in the clear to be away from the dirt kickback of horses in front. He said Romantic Warrior then began to cover the ground beautifully.
With Romantic Warrior taking the lead in the stretch, he said he was "quite surprised" to see Forever Young sticking with his horse with a furlong remaining. He noted his horse was sustaining his bid.
"It just shows what a great horse Forever Young is and what a race it was," he said.
When Romantic Warrior made his bid on the outside, Sakai said, "I felt him come to me. Of course, I believed in Forever Young, so I never felt bad about this competition."
Yahagi, who won the Saudi Cup for the second time in its six-year history, expressed a different feeling when he saw Romantic Warrior spurt to a lead.
"I was thinking if my horse passed Romantic Warrior, that was more romantic than the movies," Yahagi said.
"I was concerned about Romantic Warrior because he had never run on the dirt. So I didn't know how much he'd show on the dirt."
Both horses ran lights out, evidenced by a distant gap to the rest of the competition and a stakes-record time for 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles) of 1:49.09 over a fast track. Forever Young paid $6.60 for a $2 win wager in an international pari-mutuel wagering pool as the second favorite behind Romantic Warrior.
Ushba Tesoro was 10 1/2 lengths farther back in third and Wilson Tesoro fourth. The lone American runner, Rattle N Roll, finished fifth.
In addition to the $10 million winner's share of the purse, Forever Young earned a fees-paid trip to the Breeders' Cup Classic in November at Del Mar. Before the race, Breeders' Cup and the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia announced that the Saudi Cup was added to the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In.
Yahagi, known as "the man in the hat" for his colorful headgear, wore a purple hat at the 2024 Breeders' Cup. For the 2025 renewal at Del Mar, he said, "I might keep this one," which was blue.
Before thinking about the Breeders' Cup, though, Yahagi has another task in mind for Forever Young.
"I also think about the Dubai World Cup," he said. "No one has won these two races in a double."
Kenny McPeek indicated Rattle N Roll would also point to the Dubai World Cup (G1) as his next start. The trainer posted on X that he was pleased with his runner's effort in the Saudi Cup but thought the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Dubai race would be more to his liking.
Forever Young is a son of Real Steel, grandson of Deep Impact and great-grandson of Sunday Silence. He was produced by the Congrats mare Forever Darling.
He won his first three starts in Japan in late 2023, one of them a leg of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. Yahagi, however, opted for a Middle East campaign, and Forever Young responded with a dramatic stretch-running victory in the Saudi Derby.
Yahagi later said Forever Young was only about 80% fit for that Saudi race. He obviously benefitted from the effort as he easily won his next start, the UAE Derby in Dubai. That qualified him for the Kentucky Derby, where he finished third in the now-famous three-way photo behind Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone after bumping with the latter repeatedly in the stretch.
After a five-month layoff, he won a prep race in Japan and then finished third behind Sierra Leone in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He was an easy winner again in Tokyo Daishoten (G1) at Oi Racecourse Dec. 29 in his prep for the Saudi Cup.
His owner, Susumu Fujita, is the founder and owner of the internet platform CyberAgent.
Fujita, Yahagi, and Sakai also won the Neom Turf Cup (G2T) three races earlier on the program with Shin Emperor.
Romantic Warrior came to the dirt race as an experiment after building a world-record bankroll of more than $22.7 million solely on the turf. Owner Peter Lau said the Saudi Cup was an experiment and that Romantic Warrior would return to grass racing—win or lose.
"Once in your life, we should try," Lau said of the attempt to transfer Romantic Warrior's form to the King Abdulaziz Racecourse dirt.
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