Forever Young breaks Romantic Warrior’s heart in Saudi Cup epic

Forever Young reeled in Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior in the final few strides to get the better of a truly epic duel for the Saudi Cup in Riyadh.

The pair dominated the betting for the nine-furlong showpiece, with the Japanese runner Forever Young already proven on a dirt track with placed finishes in the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic – while in contrast Romantic Warrior was taking a step into the unknown on the surface.

It looked as though James McDonald had made a winning move aboard the Danny Shum-trained Romantic Warrior – the world’s highest-earning racehorse – when he switched five wide on the bend and set sail for home.

Forever Young was caught for pace as Romantic Warrior accelerated in tremendous fashion, but entering the final furlong Forever Young was gaining with every stride, eventually just putting his head in front on the line to secure top honours in the world’s most valuable race.

Yahagi – whose exploits on the international stage need no introduction and who was successful with Shin Emperor earlier on the Saudi Cup card – said: “It’s unbelievable how he is so good. Unbelievable!

“Of course Romantic Warrior is such a strong horse and we respect him, but our horse was better today.

“I was believing he’d still come back to pass Romantic Warrior.

“He loves travelling and I love travel too!”

He added: “This is my second win in the Saudi Cup (after Panthalassa in 2023), but no matter how many wins you have in the Saudi Cup, it is still a great feeling. I didn’t have confidence; I believed in him.

“You know when he came here to run in the Saudi Derby, he was not in the best condition and he still won. Since that time, he has improved a lot and was in better condition today. I would like to thank all the people of the Saudi Cup who support us. We will go to the Dubai World Cup.”

McDonald admitted he was “gutted” Romantic Warrior had been beaten for the first time since October 2023, but was still proud of him in defeat.

He said: “I’m incredibly proud of him, he’s a great horse. I’m gutted he’s been defeated but saying that, he was gallant in defeat.

“The race played out perfectly for us, we had a great pitch in behind. He got a little bit of kickback and I thought ‘get him in the clear’ and he sidled round beautifully.

“He went through his paces really nicely, he kept building all the way and I can safely say I was not stopping.

“It just shows was a great horse Forever Young is and what a race it was.

“It’s Peter (Lau, owner) and Danny, they’ve done a marvellous job and it’s been a pleasure to be a part of it and watch them gloat over this horse day in and day out.

“So much work has been put into him and he delivers every time, he delivered tonight and I’m gutted he got beaten.

“He went down on his sword, that’s for sure – he went down fighting and he made one hell of a race out of it.”

Connections had planned to return to turf with Romantic Warrior for his next start, with the Dubai Turf previously being his stated aim on World Cup night in April.

McDonald added: “I think he runs in Dubai next, but he’s had a tough race tonight. I’d say the horse still thought he’d won because it was a close margin.

“It was a great build up, great to be here in Saudi and they put on a great show.”

Like McDonald, Shum took defeat on the chin – and confirmed Romantic Warrior would return to turf in Dubai.

He said: “It was his first time on the dirt and he ran tremendous. Really good. The winner is a very good horse and didn’t beat us by very much. It was his first run on the dirt and he was only beaten by Forever Young and that horse is a very tough dirt horse.

“We were only beaten by a head. What can you do? I tried something like this for the first time with Romantic Warrior and hopefully some other trainers and owners will (follow me).

“We did the best we could. We hope to win every time, but racing is racing. He tried his best, it was a really good race.

“James was happy with him, so I’m happy with him. Great run. He beat the third horse by lengths. He will go back to Dubai for the Dubai Turf. Definitely turf.”