Ryusei Sakai, riding Forever Young, celebrates after winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic during day two of the 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar Race Track on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 in Del Mar, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

DEL MAR — The horse from far away had come so close before, a Japanese star inches and then yards from achieving American royalty.

Saturday, finally, Forever Young got there.

After finishing an excruciatingly hard-fought third in the Kentucky Derby and third again in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last year, the 4-year-old colt bred and trained in Hokkaido broke through and won with jockey Ryusei Sakai in the $7 million Classic at Del Mar on Saturday, defeating horses who had frustrated his handlers’ ambitions in the past.

The b

See Full Page