Trainer Yoshito Yahagi declares G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup contender Forever Young an ‘amazing horse’

• Trainer Yoshito Yahagi declares G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup contender Forever Young an ‘amazing horse’
• Baeza, Stars and Stripes give Mott strong hand in G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup
• Duggan optimistic about Delightful Flame in $175K Floral Park
• Kantarmaci planning to run New York-breds Buttah and El Grande O in G3 Vosburgh
• Antonacci set to debut promising filly Fiora on Friday

Susumu Fujita’s Forever Young, the reigning Japanese Horse of the Year and Eclipse Award-winner as Champion Older Dirt Horse, galloped on the Belmont Park main track Thursday in his final preparation for Friday’s 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 108th running of 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/.

Trainer Yoshito Yahagi arrived in New York on Wednesday afternoon and was onsite Thursday to watch Forever Young gallop over the main track just after 6 a.m. under jockey Ryusei Sakai, who will pilot the 5-year-old son of Real Steel on Friday. They were accompanied to the track with Shin Emperor, who was in rein to assistant trainer Yuki Araki.

Both Forever Young and Shin Emperor cooled out in their customary fashion since arriving in New York with multiple laps along the treelined horse path adjacent to the main track before bath time and a pick of grass.

Yahagi spoke to assembled media at the barn after morning training with Hiroshi Ando, racing manager for Susumu Fujita, working as his interpreter.

“I was amazed at the track condition and the great condition of the ground,” Yahagi said of the new Belmont Park.

On Tuesday, Forever Young worked five-eighths in 1:02.17 over the main track with Sakai aboard. Yahagi said he was impressed with both the video he watched of the workout and also Thursday’s gallop here.

“I'm speechless. You guys see the horse every day and that's exactly how I feel,” Yahagi said to the assembled media. “I realize he's an amazing horse. Wow - a fantastic workout.”

Forever Young will face a compact field of five on Friday following the withdrawals of Banishing and Chunk of Gold. Yahagi said he is not concerned about race tactics or that Forever Young will be making his first start since a runner-up effort in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup on March 28 at Meydan Racecourse.

“I don't have any thoughts about tactics. [If] he shows his ability to racing, we will get the results. I don't [have any] concern for six months from racing now to Dubai,” Yahagi said.

Yahagi said he was inspired to bring Forever Young to New York to help christen the new facility.

“I wanted a challenge. I'd like to win Belmont's Jockey Club Gold Cup because this is Opening Day and that's why I really try to win this,” Yahagi said.

Yahagi is a three-time Breeders’ Cup winner, taking the Grade 1 Distaff with Marche Lorraine and the Grade 1 Filly and Mare Turf with Loves Only You in 2021 and the Grade 1 Classic last year with Forever Young.

He noted that Forever Young is well positioned to defend his title in the Classic.

“Not many horses that improve from 4-to-5, but Forever Young has improved from 4-to-5-years old, especially from spring to now. I believe one more level up,” Yahagi said.

Belmont Park has been selected to host the 2027 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which will mark the first edition of the Breeders’ Cup to be held in New York State since 2005.

And while Yahagi noted that Forever Young is not likely to race into the fall next year, he said the horse could potentially remain in training to try for a third consecutive win in the Group 1 Saudi Cup in February at King Abdulaziz Racecourse.

“Maybe,” Yahagi said.

Additional news, notes, advances and recaps are available at: https://www.nyra.com/belmont/news/.

For more information about the new Belmont Park, visit NewBelmont.com. 

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Baeza, Stars and Stripes give Mott strong hand in G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup

The talented pair of Baeza and Stars and Stripes gives Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott a live chance to secure his fifth win in the historic Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, the featured race on Friday’s return to racing program at the new and reimagined Belmont Park.

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/.

Mott, whose first Belmont Park starter of his career came with a winning performance from Heatherten in the 1984 Grade 1 Hempstead Handicap according to Equibase, gave his first impressions of the new grandstand and facilities on Thursday morning.

"I just had a quick walk through the box seats in the grandstand and went through the racing offices and had a look at the paddock and it looks really great,” he said. “It's a new, bright look and everybody should be optimistic about the meet coming up. I think there's a lot of things to look forward to."

The excitement starts early at the fall meet for Mott, whose two entries in the Jockey Club Gold Cup will give steep opposition to the favored international superstar Forever Young, the Japanese-bred winner of four Grade/Group 1s and earner of more than $31 million. C R K Stable and Grandview Equine’s Baeza gets his second shot at Forever Young after finishing sixth to him in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Del Mar, while Frassetto Stables’ Stars and Stripes enters as a new challenger.

The two 4-year-old colts visited Belmont’s main track for a gallop on Thursday, and Mott said he’s pleased with what he saw.

"They looked good – Baeza was on the bridle and galloped really well, he went good. So did Stars and Stripes,” Mott said. “I think they both went around there fine and looked good to me."

Grade 1-winner Baeza [post 1, Junior Alvarado, 5-2 ML] has run valiantly in his three starts this year with a willing late foot, but was compromised by slow breaks in each of them. He began the year with a three-quarter-length third in the Grade 2 Alysheba on May 1 at Churchill Downs ahead of a runner-up effort to Magnitude in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster in June there and a fourth to top stablemate Sovereignty in the Grade 1 Whitney last out on August 8 at Saratoga Race Course.

"I think he's lost a couple races just because he's got himself left at the gate,” Mott said. “It's not anybody that's done anything wrong; he's just been hesitating a little bit and we've got to find out what's going to make him comfortable and want to leave there in a hurry."

Baeza – who was trained by the late Hall of Famer John Shirreffs through his first nine outings – has worn blinkers in every start except his career bow, but will remove them for Friday’s affair.

"On a daily basis, he gallops without the blinkers, and we've worked him without the blinkers several times and he seems comfortable,” Mott said. “He seems to do his job well enough, he's easy enough to handle. We got to the point where we thought maybe he acted a little tense with the blinkers on, and I guess the main reason for taking the blinkers off is to see if it's going to help him leave the gate a little better."

The son of McKinzie has consistently competed well against the best of his generation, landing third in last year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets en route to a top-level victory in Parx Racing’s Pennsylvania Derby last September. He holds a 12-2-4-3 record with more than $2.2 million in earnings.

Graded stakes-winner Stars and Stripes [post 2, John Velazquez, 15-1 ML] will turn back in distance following a gritty nose score over favored stablemate Parchment Party in the 1 3/4-mile Listed Birdstone on August 13 at the Spa. The son of Not This Time has made one start at Friday’s distance, a non-threatening eighth in the Grade 2 Suburban presented by Subourbon Life on July 4 at Saratoga, which was won in a runaway pacesetting performance by returning rival Phileas Fogg. 

Mott said he has no qualms about trying 1 1/4 miles again with Stars and Stripes, who earned his first stakes win in April with a stalk-and-pounce performance in Keeneland’s 1 3/16-mile Grade 3 Ben Ali.

"We know he's got a lot of stamina. This is a 10-furlong race, and he's got no problem with that. It's just a matter of if he's got enough speed to stay up with the other horses,” Mott said. “He's won at a mile and three-sixteenths, he's won at a mile and an eighth, so the distance is fine for him. He has no problem getting the distance, it's just a matter of if he can close into these horses."

Stars and Stripes has compiled a consistent lifetime ledger of 9-5-1-1 with $542,033 in purse earnings.

While Baeza and Stars and Stripes both bring solid form, a win from either would be a large upset against 3-5 morning-line favorite Forever Young, but Mott has played giant slayer in this race before. In 2013, he sent out 21-1 shot Ron the Greek to trounce a group of seven rivals that included that year’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winners Orb and Palace Malice, as well as Grade 1-winners Cross Traffic and Alpha. Favored in that event was the Mott-trained Flat Out – the 2012 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner - who stumbled at the start in his attempted title defense and landed third.

Mott fondly recalled the 6 3/4-length tour de force from the son of Full Mandate in a sizzling final time of 1:59.70.

"The horse that was most impressive in the Jockey Club Gold Cup that I've ever run was Ron the Greek. That was an outstanding performance that day,” Mott said. “He was always a good horse but where that effort came from, I don't know - it came from out of the clouds somewhere. He was very impressive on the day. You can't make predictions on how they're going to run on any given day, but we hope they show up and do their best."

Mott’s other three wins in this race came with Olympiad [2022, at Saratoga], Flat Out [2012] and the incomparable Cigar [1995], whose Jockey Club Gold Cup score was part of his remarkable 16-race win streak. The one-length victory served as the son of Palace Music’s final start before winning the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont three weeks later.

"The Jockey Club Gold Cup wasn't one of Cigar's most impressive races. It looked like he had to work a little bit to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup and then he came back very impressively three or four weeks later and won the Breeders' Cup Classic right here at Belmont,” Mott said. “He got the job done.”

And while Mott leads over two promising candidates in this year’s running, he tipped his cap to the classy Forever Young.

"I think he's one of the best horses in the world,” he said. “You think about that, you take that into consideration and think about how many horses do this every day, train every day and run every day and to say that he's one of the top-five horses in the world, I think that's a pretty bold statement, but I think he definitely fits that profile."

Baeza and Stars and Stripes were not initially expected to be Mott’s stable representatives in this event. His star trainee Sovereignty – the reigning Horse of the Year and winner of the Whitney on August 8 – was forced to skip the race due to a foot abscess that caused him to miss some time training.

Mott provided an update on the 4-year-old son of Into Mischief, who is stabled at Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track.

"We had a setback with a hindfoot with him, he had an abscess, and we had to wait for that to toughen up. He's been back on the track for two days now in Saratoga and everything is going well,” Mott said. “Right now, the way everything went the last two days, he's on schedule to go back to the racetrack tomorrow as well.”

Sovereignty won last year’s Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Grade 1 DraftKings Travers and was the 6-5 morning-line favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November, but scratched due to illness. Mott said he is hopeful Godolphin’s regal Kentucky homebred is still on course to make that race this year at Keeneland.

"That's been the goal all year,” Mott said. “We would have loved to run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, but we had a setback, so we had to make adjustments, call an audible and we'll train up to the Breeders' Cup."

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 Duggan optimistic about Delightful Flame in $175K Floral Park

Penta Racing’s Delightful Flame is among a field of 11 rivals in Saturday’s $175,000 Floral Park, a six-furlong Widener turf sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up to mark the first grass stakes at the new and reimagined Belmont Park.

Trained by David Duggan, the 4-year-old daughter of Flameaway was last seen finishing a solid second to graded stakes-winning millionaire Zeitlos in the 5 1/2-furlong Listed Smart and Fancy on August 14 at Saratoga Race Course. There, she tracked in fifth-of-7 and seven lengths off the pace under returning rider Katie Davis, and closed willingly to land 1 3/4 lengths back as Zeitlos completed the course in 1:06.44 over the yielding footing.

Duggan said he was encouraged by the deep-closing effort from a filly that is often among the frontrunners.

“We got beat by a good filly in Saratoga,” Duggan said. “Some of the other fillies didn’t show up because of the soft ground, but in saying that, she showed up and showed a new dimension of how we rode her.”

Delightful Flame [post 7, Katie Davis] made her first three starts on dirt for trainer Wesley Ward – including a nine-length graduation at second asking – and was a $75,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale. She returned to the races last June and has finished first or second in 5-of-6 starts since, including a six-furlong optional claiming victory two starts back on June 14 at Belmont at the Big A that garnered a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

Duggan praised the consistency of Delightful Flame, whose six efforts in her current barn have yielded good results over both firm and yielding turf, and muddy/sealed dirt.

“She’s done little wrong and has been very consistent, on turf, dirt, a wet track and on soft turf,” Duggan said. “I think she still has to improve a couple of lengths to be competitive and the structure of the six furlongs is going to aid some people and not help some others. She bounced out of her last race well and she’s trained well, so it’s a perfect spot. She’s been a great buy, she’s worth every penny of it, and she’s been good to us.”

Duggan, a longtime participant on The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit with his wife Lara’s assistance, shared his optimism for the future at the new Belmont Park.

“It’s a great opportunity and it’s good to be a part of it and have horses at this level,” Duggan said. “I am excited for it and I think there’s a lot of good things. You look at Saratoga and how wonderful it is there, there’s a reason – they’re doing something very good up there, and with that same sort of community feel here, it will blossom, no doubt.”

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Kantarmaci planning to run New York-breds Buttah and El Grande O in G3 Vosburgh

Trainer Ilkay Kantarmaci is pointing the New York-breds Buttah and El Grande O to next Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Vosburgh, a seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up, at Belmont Park. The Vosburgh is a “Win and You’re In” event for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint in October at Keeneland.

“Buttah, he’s targeting this race, this is where we’re going to run,” Kantarmaci said. “I’m going to run El Grande O in this race, too, or planning to, it depends on how the field comes up.”

Eddie F's Racing’s Buttah was transferred to Kantarmaci in May after the retirement of trainer Gary Sciacca, and his barn debut was a head second in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance at Belmont at the Big A.

The 4-year-old Leofric gray exited to win a key allowance sprint on June 6 Belmont Stakes Day at Saratoga Race Course ahead of a 1 1/2-length score over possible returning rival Doc Sullivan in the seven-furlong state-bred John Morrissey last out on August 6 there.

“He’s doing really good,” Kantarmaci said. “Nothing has changed since he came out of his last race, so I think Buttah is ready.”

Buttah is out of the Chief Seattle mare Salty Little Sis, whose other progeny include Eddie F’s color-bearers Lobsta – a dual stakes-winner that banked more than $350,000 – and Chowda. All three of the siblings were bred in the Empire State by Fedwell Farms.

Sanford Goldfarb's El Grande O was haltered by Kantarmaci for $110,000 out of a nose score last out sprinting seven furlongs on September 2 at the Spa. The 5-year-old Take Charge Indy dark bay was trained through his 23-9-5-3 record by Linda Rice, including two state-bred stakes wins and a pair of graded placings.

“I really like this horse. I wanted to claim him a long time ago for $100,000 [April 2] and I missed it, I don’t know what happened, I just missed it by one minute,” Kantarmaci recalled. “Then she [Rice] didn’t put the claiming tag, last time she put the claiming tag, and I claimed him for sure.”

Bred by Stonewall Farm, El Grande O, a half-brother to graded stakes-placed Meal Ticket, is out of the stakes-placed Unbridled’s Song mare Rainbow’s Song.

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Antonacci set to debut promising filly Fiora on Friday

Trainer Philip Antonacci is hoping to secure his first ever win at Belmont Park when he debuts Fiora in Race 3 on Friday as live racing returns to the historic venue.

Antonacci will be well represented this weekend with five additional runners including Shades of Jade [Race 2, Saturday] and Ashikidah in Sunday’s featured $175,000 Forever Together in Race 9. The conditioner said he can’t wait to get started back at the new Belmont.

“It's what New York has deserved and what the horsemen in New York have deserved for a long time,” Antonacci said. “New York is still the mecca of racing around the world, so it's great to see such a top class facility in New York for us to display our horses and the great racing here in New York.”

Lindy Farms, AC Crawford Farms and Westfield Stables’ Fiora, by Into Mischief and out of the Grade 3-placed Tapit mare Ivyetsu, will exit post 9 as the 4-1 second choice under Ricardo Santana, Jr. in the 6 1/2-furlong Widener turf sprint for juvenile fillies.

Antonacci said the $625,000 acquisition from the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale has trained well into her debut with a series of works over the All Weather at Lindy Farms and a pair of turf breezes on the Oklahoma training turf at Saratoga Race Course.

“She's done everything very nicely,” Antonacci said. “She's one we're very excited about. She's shown a lot of ability and a lot of class and hopefully she can develop into a nice filly.”

Antonacci said the 6 1/2-furlongs is a good starting point for the young filly compared to the 5 1/2-furlong maiden turf sprints offered at the Spa.

“I think she'll eventually be a mile, mile and a sixteenth type filly but 6 1/2-furlongs is an interesting distance to start them out and they can come on running,” Antonacci said. “It's not the quick 5 1/2-furlongs where if they break a touch slow they're left at the back - I think it's an ideal distance to start a lot of these fillies on.”

An oversubscribed field is headlined by 7-2 morning line favorite Inflect, who will leave the outermost post 12 under Flavien Prat for five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown and owner Klaravich Stables.

The Uncle Mo bay, a $475,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, is out of the winning Into Mischief mare Marceline – a half-sister to dual Grade 1-winning multimillionaire Charlatan and turf stakes-winner Hanalei Moon. Her second dam is dual graded stakes-winner Authenticity.

On Saturday, Lindy Farms’ Shades of Jade, a 4-year-old daughter of Munnings, will look to get back to winning ways in Race 2, a 6 1/2-furlong optional-claimer over the inner turf.

Shades of Jade will exit post 7-of-8 with returning rider Santana, Jr. in the irons as she makes her first start since a 2 1/2-length fourth at this level in July at the Spa when traveling 5 1/2-furlongs from a nearly four-month respite.

The $200,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase put together back-to-back wins beginning with a fourth-out graduation sprinting six furlongs over firm turf in October at Belmont at the Big and followed with a prominent score traveling one furlong shorter in December over firm footing at Gulfstream Park. Shades of Jade was denied a hat trick of victories when checked at the sixteenth pole of a five-furlong optional claiming sprint to land a 3 1/4-length sixth at the Hallandale Beach oval in February. She faltered to seventh when trying Tapeta in March at Gulfstream ahead of her most recent Spa try.

“She's had terrible luck. She was on the cusp of winning three in a row at Gulfstream and got stopped on the rail,” Antonacci said. “We ran her on Tapeta, and she didn’t like the Tapeta down there. So, we brought her up here and gave her a little time off and she was probably a little short her first race and ran a pretty credible fourth.

“She got a foot abscess after that race, so it's been a little start and stop with her,” Antonacci added. “I think she's rounding back into form. It looks like a very tough race, but I think she belongs there.”

Shades of Jade will face a talented field of eight that includes recent allowance winners Alyeska for trainer Chad Brown, Heat Missile for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse and Life’s Dynamic for conditioner Arnaud Delacour.