ELMONT – On the day Belmont Park opened its doors after a three-year, $555 million facelift, Japanese superstar Forever Young delivered a performance worthy of the gleaming new venue – even if his trainer wasn’t entirely pleased.
Forever Young, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, helped open up the reborn Belmont with an easy 3 ¼-length victory over a short field of just three rivals in Friday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup. Trainer Yoshito Yahagi admitted, though, that he was only “50% satisfied.”
“Obviously, we won this race,” Yahagi said through a translator. “Of course, 100% satisfied with that. But Forever Young, performance-wise, I’m not happy.”
He added: “Physically, we think (his) fitness is 80% … but, performance-wise, it was not enough for me.”
Still, Yahagi couldn’t help but marvel at the long list of accomplishments of his star pupil, who pushed his staggering career earnings total past the $32 million mark.
“I think I will never see again a horse (like this) in my life and my career,” Yahagi said.
Even with a performance that left his trainer half-satisfied, Forever Young still easily outclassed an extremely short, but talented, field. The 5-year-old sat comfortably off easy fractions set by pacesetter Phileas Fogg, then made a sweeping move coming around the far turn to take the lead under jockey Ryusei Sakai.
From there, it was over. There was no devastating move to leave the field miles behind, but Forever Young easily crossed the wire in two minutes, 1.23 seconds for the comfortable win. Stars and Stripes, the longest shot in the field, was second, with Baeza overcoming a slow start to get up for third ahead of a fading Phileas Fogg.
“He had quite the response at the top of the (stretch),” Sakai said through a translator. “It was easy travel for him when I asked him.”
It was Forever Young’s first race since a runner-up effort behind Magnitude at the Dubai World Cup in late March, and Yahagi chalked up his disappointment in Forever Young’s effort to the impact of that layoff of nearly six months.
He’s expecting better six weeks from now when Forever Young aims to join Tiznow as the only back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Classic winners. Forever Young will spend the next month at Belmont training up to the race before shipping to Keeneland in October.
A sold-out crowd of 6,000 – the facility’s current capacity, as some areas are not expected to open until early 2027 – was on hand for a celebratory atmosphere as the New York Racing Association showed off the culmination of three years and more than a half-billion dollars worth of work.
At the track’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday morning, Gov. Kathy Hochul lauded it as “truly an historic 24 hours for New York,” with Belmont’s reopening following the first regular-season game at the Buffalo Bills’ new Highmark Stadium the prior night.
Belmont’s renovation was financed through a $455 million loan from the state and an additional $100 million from NYRA.
“Three and a half years ago, we made a big bet on Belmont,” Hochul said. “A $455 million loan … to launch one of the largest racetrack projects ever in history. We made the bet because we saw the enormous economic potential, which is what is behind everything we do. We set out to build an international racing hub that could double as a concert and entertainment space – a versatile venue – that belongs not to… just racing fans alone, but to the entire community.”
Belmont’s futuristic remodel has a fan in Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, who won the first two races of Friday’s opening day card, though he admitted he’s still getting familiarized with the lay of the land.
“It’s a lot more modern than old Belmont. Where to go and what to do and stuff, I haven’t figured all that out yet, even though I have been through it,” McGaughey said. “But, I think it’s going to be great when everything gets settled in.”
McGaughey was all smiles after Lisa Joy made a late surge between horses to make the Hall of Famer the first trainer to step victoriously into Belmont’s brand-new winner’s circle.
“Belmont is my favorite place,” he said. “I waited three years and to come back and win like this, it’s pretty special. I told them I don’t (usually) get in the (winner’s circle) photos, but I’ll get in this one. It’s Belmont Park.”
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This article originally published at Forever Young shines in Jockey Club Gold Cup victory on Belmont’s reopening day.
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