Forever Young primed for Dubai World Cup challenge

Yoshito Yahagi cannot see “any negatives” as Forever Young tries to follow up his epic Saudi Cup win in Saturday’s Dubai World Cup at Meydan.

The four-year-old went head-to-head with Romantic Warrior in Riyadh just over a month ago, with Forever Young just grabbing the glory in the shadow of the post by a neck, with the rest of the field beaten upwards of 10 lengths.

While Romantic Warrior sticks to the same nine-furlong trip but switches surface for the Dubai Turf, Forever Young goes again on dirt over a mile and a quarter, with Yahagi expecting the longer distance to be in his favour along with the layout of the Meydan track.

The trainer said: “Of course he had a tough race (in Saudi Arabia) and he was a little fatigued for a few days. My staff really did a great job in aiding his recovery and from then the plan was always to come here and compete in the Dubai World Cup.

“I think the extra 200 metres will be an advantage for him and also going four turns will benefit him.

“I’ve been asked a lot about how he has come out of the race and his overall condition and some people have been concerned. But I actually think that, having experienced that tough race, he has improved another level. I think it’s all positive, I don’t see any negatives.”

Should Forever Young justify his position as hot favourite, he will be the third Japanese-trained winner after Victoire Pisa (2011) and Ushba Tesoro, who won the race in 2023, finished second last year and is back for another attempt.

Yahagi added: “The Dubai World Cup is a race that in Japan we always want to win. In 2011, straight after a devastating earthquake in Japan, Victoire Pisa won it and Transcend finished second. That was meaningful for the people; they were encouraged by that and this race, which has a prestigious history, has become more and more popular.”

The Bhupat Seemar-trained Imperial Emperor is second-favourite and is a fairytale runner for Worcester-based syndicate Deva Racing.

He was purchased from Godolphin in November and is three from four since switching to the dirt for his new connections at Meydan, with his only defeat being a runner-up finish in the Al Maktoum Challenge.

“It’s what dreams are made of and we never thought this would happen,” said Ryan Tongue, Deva Racing’s director and bloodstock agent, who was born and raised in Worcester and worked at the racecourse in his early days.

“It’s going to be an amazing day and who would have expected it? We paid around £65,000 for him and we love buying horses over there, the incentives are fantastic, the weather and the prize-money is great and you get so well looked after by the Dubai Racing Club.

“It’s been an exciting journey with him and we’ve now ended up with a Dubai World Cup runner in a $12m race and hopefully the fun continues.”

Imperial Emperor – who will be ridden by Tadhg O’Shea, who struck gold 12 months ago with the Seemar-trained Laurel River – was once a Classic hope for Charlie Appleby when trained in Newmarket, winning his first two races, and Tongue continued: “He was second-favourite for the Derby at one stage and he is by Dubawi, who does exceptionally well on the dirt, which is why we liked him.

“He’s improved with every run and I think he’s a horse who is only going to continue to improve. Super Saturday was only his fourth start on the dirt and Bhupat Seemar has always been very happy with him at home and his work is always very good. He’s a horse who’s given us a huge amount of pleasure.”

Seemar also fields Walk Of Stars, while William Buick teams up with Rattle N Roll for American trainer Kenny McPeek and Frankie Dettori rides the Doug O’Neill-trained outsider Mixto.