Beaten but far from disgraced, and a challenge taken and hardly a failure, Romantic Warrior’s world-class was on display but only to find one better that could be his trainer’s best.
Trainer Yoshito Yahagi has won his second Group 1 Saudi Cup (1800m) as four-year-old horse Forever Young ($2.60) ran down Romantic Warrior ($2.50) over the last 200-metres to emulate the win of Panthalasa for Yahagi in 2023.
Caught one off the rail and four horses creating a barrier between the Hong Kong star and clear air on the dirt surface, James McDonald pulled Romantic Warrior six-deep around the Riyadh home turn and set sail for the US$10 million (AU$15.5 million) first prize.
Forever Young, a last start Group 1 winner of the Tokyo Diashoten (2000m) in Japan, was seen as the most likely to challenge the Warrior, and with Ryusai Sakai in the saddle the four-year-old did so to win by a neck-margin.
“It was a great race,” McDonald said.
“We had him (Romantic Warrior) pitched all the way and he sidled between runners. He had no kickback until we were wedged before the corner.
“He hesitated a tad but we then found air and he went through his gears really well.
“Forever Young is a great horse and he kept coming. Romantic Warrior gave his all.”
Romantic Warrior’s trainer Danny Shum saw the experiment in a positive light but looked forward to returning to the turf in Dubai in early April.
“It was a good run for his first time on the dirt,” Shum said.
“He did his best and you hope to win every time but racing is racing.
“That was a very good race and I’m happy.”
Both McDonald and Shum described Forever Young as a top line dirt horse while for Yahagi, he believes this son of a Japanese sire and an American mare could be the best of his training career so far.
“I was imagining Forever Young passing Romantic Warrior and I thought that would make a very romantic movie,” Yahagi said.
“Before the race I was finding it hard to line my horse up against Romantic Warrior but I was confident of his ability on the dirt.”
The Saudi Cup is a ‘win and you’re in’ race for the Breeders’ Cup Classic in USA in late October but although he would like to win that event, Yahagi is yet to decide on that path later this year.
His focus now is for Forever Young to be the first horse to complete the Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup double.
The 2019 Cox Plate winning trainer, and Sakai – who described the day as the best of his life – combined earlier on the card with Shin Emperor winning the US$3 million Group 2 Turf Cup (2100m) with eyes forward to UK summer features.
Japanese runners filled three of the first four placings in the Saudi Cup with the minor prizes taken by stablemates Ushba Tesoro ($34) and Wilson Tesoro ($19).
