Forever Young holds off Sierra Leone to win Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar

Forever Young ended a forever wait.

A horse from Japan had never won one of America’s greatest races until Saturday, when Forever Young held off defending champion Sierra Leone to win the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.

Third behind Sierra Leone and Fierceness a year ago in the same race over the same track, Forever Young beat last year’s winner by a half-length in 2:00.59 for 1 ¼ miles. Fierceness, the 3-1 favorite, was third, another length back, followed by Journalism and Mindframe.

Forever Young, who was also third in last year’s Kentucky Derby, was sent off at 7-2 odds, same as Sierra Leone. The winner returned $9 to his backers and earned $3,640,000 for owner Susumu Fujita.

It was the third Breeders’ Cup victory for trainer Yoshito Yahagi, who won the Distaff and Filly & Mare Turf four years ago at Del Mar.

Jockey Ryusei Sakai earned his first Breeders’ Cup win with a flawless ride. He had Forever Young stalk the pacesetter, Contrary Thinking, through six furlongs in a solid 1:10.48, with Mindframe on his outside.

Contrary Thinking faded around the far turn and Forever Young took the lead with about three furlongs left, with Mindframe next to him and Journalism almost even on the outside. The three turned into the stretch together but Forever Young began to open up. Sierra Leone was charging on the outside and Fierceness rallied as well but Forever Young had enough left to hold them off.

The Classic was billed as the deepest since 1998, even when Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Travers winner Sovereignty was scratched Wednesday with a fever. In addition to the top three finishers from last year’s Classic, top older horses Mindframe and Antiquarian were entered along with a trio of Grade I-winning 3-year-olds – Journalism, Baeza and Nevada Beach.

Tiznow remains the only horse to win the Classic twice. Sierra Leone was the 14th to try for a repeat and the second to finish second, joining Zenyatta in 2010.