DEL MAR, Calif. — Forever Young beat Sierra Leone by a half-length to win the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, taking down the 2024 champion and giving Japan a victory in North America’s richest race.
Ridden by Ryusei Sakai, Forever Young ran 1 1/4 miles in 2 minutes, 00.19 second and paid $9 to win at 7-2 odds. The colt was third in last year’s Classic behind Sierra Leone and Fierceness.
The race lost a big name Wednesday, when Sovereignty — the winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, having skipped the middle leg of the Triple Crown at the Preakness Stakes — was scratched after spiking a fever earlier in the week.
Trainer Yoshito Yahagi won the Breeders’ Cup Classic for a third time, but it was the first such victory for Sakai.
“Forever Young is an amazing horse,” Yahagi said through a translator.