Forever Young tops G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup field to usher in new era at Belmont Park
A new era in New York horse racing will begin on Friday, September 18 at the new and reimagined Belmont Park as the reigning Japanese Horse of the Year and Eclipse Award Champion Older Dirt Male Forever Young tops a field of seven assembled for the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Following a three-year project to transform Belmont Park into a world-class sports and entertainment destination, The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will celebrate the highly anticipated return to racing at the historic racetrack with a nine-race program anchored by the Jockey Club Gold Cup in Race 5. The 10-furlong route for 3-year-olds and up provides a “Win and You’re In” berth for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in October at Keeneland. First post is 1:30 p.m. Eastern.
To help unveil the new Belmont Park to a national audience on September 18, FOX will present live coverage of the Jockey Club Gold Cup as part of its Belmont Park Returns telecast to air from 3-4:30 p.m. Eastern. For the full broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule/.
Forever Young’s presence on the first day of racing at the new Belmont Park underscores the venue’s distinction as an international destination for the best in racing. Trained by Yoshito Yahagi for Susumu Fujita, the 5-year-old son of Real Steel will visit his 10th racetrack in his 16th start, which have all come under jockey Ryusei Sakai across four countries in Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Yahagi expressed his pride in bringing his star pupil back for another top-level engagement in the states in tandem with the first card of racing at the new Belmont Park.
“I am delighted to be able to compete in the United States again with Forever Young, following our participation over the past two years,” Yahagi said. “It is also a great honor to run in New York at this very memorable time, coinciding with the reopening of the historic Belmont Park racetrack. Through these two races, the Jockey Gold Cup and the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland, I hope to contribute to the further development of American horse racing.
“I express my sincere gratitude for the support of so many people, and the entire stable will work together to help Forever Young achieve good results,” Yahagi added.
Forever Young will make his first start since finishing a one-length second to Magnitude in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup on March 28 at Meydan Racecourse. The other start in his brief but impressive 5-year-old campaign was a repeat win in the about-nine-furlong Group 1 Saudi Cup in February at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, winning the $20 million event by one length over Nysos.
While Forever Young has not raced since then, he returned to training in early August in Japan and has trained steadily there in anticipation of his journey back to America for this event. He arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning and cleared quarantine on Thursday to gallop over the main track. He is expected to breeze on Tuesday under Sakai.
“Obviously he’s had a big spell [of time off] since the Dubai World Cup, and he came back training at Hakodate Racecourse in Hokkaido in early August in the cooler weather,” said Hiroshi Ando, racing manager for Fujita. “On the mainland, it’s really hot, so we tried to skip the hot weather to prepare for here. The condition is really good, and he knows how to travel with a long flight, and he’s good at it.”
Last year, Forever Young furthered his status as a leading contender on the international racing scene with a brilliant 4-3-0-1 season that began with a determined neck victory in the Saudi Cup in what was a showdown between racing royalty as he willed himself in front of Romantic Warrior, the 15-time Group 1-winner and all-time earner in thoroughbred racing history [$35.49 million]. Forever Young followed with a third to Hit Show in the Dubai World Cup before a triumphant return to Japan to remain perfect in his native land with a 3 1/2-length annexing of the Nippon TV Hai in October at Funabashi.
In November, Forever Young capped his season with a return to Del Mar Racetrack in California, looking to avenge a 2 3/4-length third behind Sierra Leone and 1 1/4 lengths back of runner-up Fierceness in the 2024 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic. This time, Forever Young would not be denied, storming from just off the pace under Sakai to best his well-acquainted rivals Sierra Leone and Fierceness and claim the half-length triumph over the former in a sharp final time of 2:00.19.
An earner of more than $31.7 million, Forever Young holds a sparkling 15-11-1-3 record that includes six additional stakes victories and a head third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in 2024. He was bred in Japan by Northern Racing and is out of the Grade 2-winning Congrats mare Forever Darling, a half-sister to Grade 1-winner Heavenly Love – dam of Forever Young’s familiar foe Sierra Leone.
Sakai will look to engineer a winning ride from post 7.
Jupiter Stable’s Phileas Fogg [post 4, Kendrick Carmouche] is well-proven at this distance with a 3-for-4 record in 10-furlong events, led by back-to-back scores in the Grade 2 Suburban presented by Subourbon Life at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Gustavo Rodriguez, the 6-year-old son of Astern earned a field-best 114 Beyer Speed Figure for his last-out title defense in the Suburban on July 4, leading at every point of call under regular pilot Kendrick Carmouche and drawing off impressively to cross the wire 10 lengths in front in a final time of 2:01.70. The win was his second consecutive open-lengths romp, adding to a 5 3/4-length wiring of a nine-furlong optional claimer on May 1 at Belmont at the Big A.
Rodriguez said this year’s Suburban was a career performance for his stable star.
"I think that was probably his best race ever, that's my opinion,” Rodriguez said. “We love the way he is coming into this race. We are very happy with the way he's doing everything, so we just have to hope for the best."
Rodriguez tipped his cap to the accomplished Forever Young as Phileas Fogg looks to upset his globetrotting rival.
"That horse is a very, very nice horse,” Rodriguez said. “He can run anywhere. He doesn't need one track, he's been traveling all around the world, and every time he runs, he runs good. He's a nice horse, but we are going to run and hope for the best.”
Phileas Fogg is the horse of a lifetime for Rodriguez, who claimed him for $62,500 in July 2024 at Saratoga. Since then, the talented gelding provided his conditioner with his first graded wins as a trainer, and has hit the board in 11-of-13 efforts, including two additional Listed stakes wins at Aqueduct Racetrack in the nine-furlong Queens County and 10-furlong Excelsior.
Rodriguez said it is special to bring a horse of Phileas Fogg’s caliber to a marquee event to kick off the new era of racing in New York State.
"The new Belmont looks very, very beautiful,” Rodriguez said. “We just got to hope for the best and at the end of the day, it is what it is."
Bred in Kentucky by Godolphin, Phileas Fogg has banked more than $1.1 million through a lifetime record of 24-11-5-1.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott did not enter the reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty due to a foot abscess, but still has two live chances to win his fifth Jockey Club Gold Cup with C R K Stable and Grandview Equine’s Baeza [post 1, Junior Alvarado, blinkers OFF] and Frassetto Stables' Stars and Stripes [post 2, John Velazquez].
Grade 1-winner Baeza has competed amongst the best of this division throughout the year, but has struggled to break sharply in each of his three starts of this campaign. Despite the slow beginnings, the 4-year-old son of McKinzie has performed admirably with a strong turn-of-foot to land a three-quarter-length third in the Grade 2 Alysheba in May at Churchill Downs, a 1 1/4-length second in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster in June there, and a last-out fourth with a willing late run in the Grade 1 Whitney won by Sovereignty on August 8 at the Spa.
“He trains brilliantly and you’d think he’s as good as there is, but we’ve got to solve the fact that he doesn’t break good,” said Lee Searing of C R K Stable. “He’s a smart horse and hopefully it will be the case that he does break good.”
Baeza showed his talent last year when in the care of late Hall of Famer John Shirreffs, posting third-place efforts in both the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets en route to a top-level triumph in the Pennsylvania Derby last September at Parx Racing.
“He’s probably one of the top-four horses in the country and he just hasn’t gotten it done,” Searing said. “This next race is important for him, one race before the Breeders’ Cup. We’re going to continue running against the best horses and he’s going to get it done one of these days.”
The regally-bred colt was a $1.2 million purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the Grade 2-placed Big Brown mare Puca, who produced 2023 Kentucky Derby-winner Mage and 2024 Belmont Stakes Champion Dornoch. All three siblings banked in excess of $2 million in total purses.
Stars and Stripes will make a significant cutback in distance as he enters from a determined nose victory in the 1 3/4-mile Listed Birdstone on August 13 at Saratoga over favored stablemate Parchment Party.
“We’re very fortunate to have a nice horse like this and one that’s good enough to be competitive,” said owner John Frassetto. “We think it’s going to be a competitive race, but we belong in it.”
The 4-year-old Not This Time colt scored by 10 1/2 lengths at second asking last June at Belmont at the Big A, and has put forth a consistent ledger since, winning four of his last seven outings that include a half-length score over stablemate Batten Down in the 1 3/16-mile Grade 3 Ben Ali in April at Keeneland. Last out, he faced his farthest test to date in the Birdstone and showed great courage as he scraped the paint in the final sixteenth to get his nose down over Parchment Party, an established marathon specialist.
“His best distance is between a mile and an eighth and a mile and a half, but we went the mile and three-quarters because there were no other races for him really,” Frassetto said. “It was really special to win. We were going back and forth because we didn’t know if he would go that far. He’s a quirky kind of horse who needs to be ridden a bit and he gets competitive when he gets next to horses, so he likes to dig in when he gets in tight situations.”
Frassetto said it is an honor to be part of the first stakes held at the new Belmont Park.
“Belmont is a very special place, and great Champions have come through there. It’s one of the premier racing venues in the world,” Frassetto said. “Just to have a horse that’s good enough to be in this event, we’re fortunate.”
Stars and Stripes has been more than worth his $100,000 price tag at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, having banked $542,033 via a 9-5-1-1 record. He is out of the Quality Road mare Pearl River, who also produced Grade 3-winner Waves of Mischief.
Lawrence P. Roman, Sharaf Mohammed Al Hariri and trainer David Jacobson’s Banishing [post 5, Joel Rosario] brings solid form off a game runner-up effort to Willy D’s when attempting a title defense with a stalking trip in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic on August 28 at its namesake course.
“He’s doing great and we’re looking forward to coming to New York again,” Jacobson said. “It was a spectacular performance [at Charles Town], the track just didn’t play in our favor.”
The 6-year-old Ghostzapper gelding dominated Meydan Racecourse’s Group 2 Godolphin Mile in March, upsetting the prestigious event by 2 1/4 lengths over Commissioner King. Banishing, who made his first nine starts for his breeder, Godolphin, and trainer Brendan Walsh, was acquired for $80,000 at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age Sale and has hit the board in 17-of-23 starts since.
“It just shows what kind of horse he is,” Jacobson said. “There’s nothing I can say. He speaks for himself. You’re always hoping for a horse like that, and once in a while, it happens.”
Banishing, who defended his title in the 6 1/2-furlong Listed Jeff Hall Memorial in July at Ellis Park ahead of the Charles Town Classic, has banked in excess of $3.2 million via a 32-11-7-3 record the includes an additional graded victory in last year’s Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile.
Jacobson, a longtime participant on the NYRA circuit, said it is an exciting time to participate in New York racing.
“It looks like they really have put an amazing effort into building it and putting it together,” Jacobson said of Belmont Park. “I just think it’s going to be the premier racing in the country, if not the world.”
Terry Stephens’ Grade 3-winner Chunk of Gold [post 3, Jaime Torres] was supplemented to this race, and enters from a hard-trying neck second to multiple graded stakes-winner Bishops Bay in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin on August 15 at Monmouth Park.
Trained by Ethan West – who will send out his first career runner in the Empire State – the 4-year-old Preservationist colt made his mark on the Kentucky Derby trail last year, landing second in a pair of Grade 2 preps at Fair Grounds Race Course in the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby ahead of a ninth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. He went on to win the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby last August at Mountaineer en route to a half-length third in the Grade 2 Clark in October behind Magnitude and Hit Show, the respective winners of the Group 1 Dubai World Cup in 2026 and 2025.
"He's as honest as the day is long,” West said. “It would be cool to get a Grade 1 on his form - even just to hit the board in a Grade 1, let alone winning it."
Chunk of Gold has been a career horse for West, who said the colt’s mental maturity is among his best attributes.
"He goes with the flow,” he said. “If you look at his form, he's shipped all over creation. He's been to Louisiana twice, Ohio, West Virginia, Monmouth...he's very even keeled."
This year, Chunk of Gold returned to action in June with a runner-up effort in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming tilt at Churchill Downs ahead of the Iselin. He is nearing millionaire status after being purchased for just $2,500 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.
Completing the field is the dual stakes-placed Render Judgment [post 6, Manny Franco], who enters from a deep-closing second in a nine-furlong optional claiming event on August 21 at Saratoga for trainer Ken McPeek.
Campaigned by Baccari Racing Stable, Dream Walkin Farms, Michael Mackin, Brook T. Smith and Magdalena Racing, the 4-year-old son of Blame earned his two stakes placings in preps for the Kentucky Derby, and finished 17th in that event when making his Grade 1 debut. He was then away from the races until January when commencing his current 6-1-3-0 campaign.
“We’re enticed to go in because of Sovereignty not running,” McPeek said. “It’s an ambitious spot for him admittedly, but he wants that kind of distance and hopefully we can pick up some pieces and maybe the favorites falter. He trains super and I think it’s very exciting.”
McPeek is no stranger to upsetting heavy favorites, having taken the 2002 Belmont Stakes with 70-1 shot Sarava to deny War Emblem a Triple Crown. McPeek is also experienced in defeating Forever Young after sending out 18-1 shot Mystik Dan to edge him by a head in the Kentucky Derby two years ago.
“I’ve beaten him before, right?” McPeek said, with a laugh.
A $310,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale, Render Judgment is out of the Commissioner mare Barbara Gordon. His second dam, Waltz With Chester, is a half-sister to Canada’s 1995 Champion Older Male Basqueian.
For additional information on the new Belmont Park, please visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/.
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