10 Pedigree fun facts: Forever Young

Apr 11, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Bred by Japan’s famed Northern Farm, Forever Young sports a pedigree filled with familiar names from U.S. racing history.

You’d expect to find Sunday Silence, the 1989 Kentucky Derby (G1) champion who became a breed-shaping sire in Japan. But Forever Young’s ancestry is a veritable “Who’s Who” of American classic influences. Storm Cat, A.P. Indy, Mr. Prospector, and Deputy Minister all contribute to his genetic heritage, and he comes from the immediate family of Derby rival Sierra Leone.

Here are his 10 pedigree fun facts:

1. Sire Real Steel was trainer’s first big winner on world stage.

Forever Young’s trainer, Yoshito Yahagi, has become famous for winning at some of the biggest international festivals. It all started back in 2016 with Forever Young’s sire, Real Steel, who put Yahagi on the map by capturing the Dubai Turf (G1) on Dubai World Cup night.

Real Steel, who won a pair of graded races at home, played second fiddle to such champions as Kitasan Black (sire of the phenom Equinox), Duramente, and Maurice in marquee events. Runner-up in two-thirds of Japan’s Triple Crown, the 2015 Satsuki Sho (G1) and Kikuka Sho (G1), Real Steel was also fourth in the Tokyo Yushun (G1), his nation’s equivalent of the Epsom Derby (G1). He added another high-profile placing in the 2016 Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1).

2. Real Steel is a full brother to Breeders’ Cup champion Loves Only You.

Real Steel’s younger sister, Loves Only You, had even greater success at home and abroad for Yahagi, scoring Japan’s historic breakthrough in the Breeders’ Cup.

Winner of the 2019 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) (G1) in a stakes-record 2:22.8 for the about 1 1/2-mile classic at Tokyo, Loves Only You turned into a globetrotting marvel in 2021. She defeated males in both of Hong Kong’s premier races at about 1 1/4 miles, the QEII Cup (G1) and Hong Kong Cup (G1), in addition to her thrilling rally in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1).

Loves Only You thereby became a trans-Pacific champion: she was voted Japan’s champion older mare, and her victory at Del Mar also earned her an Eclipse Award as champion turf female.

3. Real Steel descends from transatlantic champion Miesque.

Real Steel and Loves Only You are both by the legendary Deep Impact and out of the Storm Cat mare Loves Only Me. A blueblood acquired from the Niarchos Family’s bloodstock empire, Loves Only Me is a daughter of Monevassia, who is also responsible for European champion two-year-old filly Rumplestiltskin.

Monevassia’s parents are Mr. Prospector and transatlantic great Miesque, a two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) heroine. Hall of Famer Miesque is also the mother of French classic-winning miler Kingmambo (an influential sire the world over) and dual French classic victress East of the Moon (ancestress of the brilliant Alpha Centauri), among others. Miesque’s further French classic-winning descendants include Karakontie, the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Mile scorer, and Study of Man (by Deep Impact and thus closely related to Real Steel).

4. Grandsire Deep Impact is the only Japanese Triple Crown winner to sire one.

Real Steel’s sire, Deep Impact, lived up to his name both on the racecourse and at stud, ranking as the preeminent son of Sunday Silence. Unbeaten through his sweep of the Japanese Triple Crown in 2005, he would lose just twice in his career, a narrow reverse in the Arima Kinen and an anticlimactic performance in the 2006 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1). But Deep Impact went out on a high note by winning his final two starts, the Japan Cup (G1) and his second attempt at the prestigious Arima Kinen.

Deep Impact is the only Japanese Triple Crown winner to sire one, as his son Contrail (trained by Yahagi) likewise stayed perfect through the 2020 classics. Among seven Japanese Derby winners by Deep Impact, Contrail was a champion all three seasons he raced. Deep Impact also sired two-time Japanese Horse of the Year Gentildonna, who swept the comparable classic series for fillies, the Triple Tiara, and became the first to win the Japan Cup twice.

Beyond his phalanx of champions at home, Deep Impact has bequeathed several European classic winners as well. From his final crop came Auguste Rodin, who turned the 2023 Epsom/Irish Derby (G1) double, then beat his elders in last fall’s Irish Champion (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1).

5. Forever Young’s mother ran against Hall of Famer Songbird.

Forever Young is out of Forever Darling, who sold for a bargain-basement $8,000 as a yearling. That price didn’t reflect her pedigree, or her ability, for she went on to score in the 2016 Santa Ynez (G2) at Santa Anita.

Forever Darling tried her luck against champion Songbird, finishing eighth to the future Hall of Famer in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and a better fourth in the Santa Anita Oaks (G1). Forever Darling’s only other stakes credit was a runner-up effort in the seven-furlong Angel’s Flight S.

6. Grandsire Congrats placed in Lava Man’s first Hollywood Gold Cup.

Forever Darling is by the royally-bred Congrats, a son of A.P. Indy and the Mr. Prospector mare Praise. Congrats is therefore a full brother to another successful stallion, Flatter, sire of 2017 Travers (G1)-winning champion and $5.8 million-earner West Coast as well as millionaires Flat Out, Upstart, and Search Results.

Although Flatter had a more limited career on the racetrack than Congrats, both brothers squared off against one of the most remarkable campaigners of the early 2000s, Perfect Drift. Flatter made his lone stakes appearance in the 2003 Washington Park H. (G2) at old Arlington Park, where he was a distant third to Perfect Drift. In 2004, Congrats scored his first stakes win by upsetting Perfect Drift in the Alysheba S. at a sloppy Churchill Downs.

Congrats relished the slop again in the 2005 San Pasqual (G2) at Santa Anita, romping by 5 1/2 lengths. He would garner minor awards in two of the storied races on the Southern California circuit, placing second to Rock Hard Ten in the Santa Anita H. (G1) and third in the Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) to an ex-claimer named Lava Man. That was just the opening act in an amazing Gold Cup three-peat during Lava Man’s Hall of Fame career.

7. A granddaughter of Congrats won the Kentucky Oaks.

As a sire, Congrats got off to a fantastic start with Grade 1 stars Turbulent Descent and Wickedly Perfect emerging from his first crop. They were indicators of his tendency to come up with good fillies, a pattern continuing now through his results as a broodmare sire. Daughters of Congrats have produced 2020 Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Shedaresthedevil; 2021 Queen’s Plate scorer Safe Conduct; and 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) queen Caravel.

But Congrats has had a few high-profile sons as well, most memorably Bango. The millionaire sprinter has made headlines for his affinity for Churchill Downs; last fall, he won beneath the Twin Spires for the 11th time, tying the record for the most recorded wins in the history of the Louisville track.

8. Sierra Leone is Forever Young’s cousin.

You could describe Sierra Leone and Forever Young’s relationship in human terms as “cousins.” Forever Young’s dam (mother), Forever Darling, is a half-sister to Heavenly Love, who foaled Sierra Leone.

The mares are even more closely related. Not only are they both out of Darling My Darling, but they are also by stallions bred on the same lines. Heavenly Love’s sire, Malibu Moon, is a product of the A.P. Indy/Mr. Prospector cross, just like Congrats.

As explored in Sierra Leone’s pedigree fun facts, this is the immediate family of Japanese Horse of the Year Zenno Rob Roy. Sierra Leone and Forever Young’s grandmother, Darling My Darling, is herself a half-sister to Zenno Rob Roy.

Forever Young’s pedigree broadly resembles Zenno Rob Roy’s, in the sense that they share the same sire line and female line. Zenno Rob Roy is the offspring of Sunday Silence himself and Grade 1 victress Roamin Rachel; Forever Young is the offspring of their grandchildren.

9. Mr. Prospector, Northern Dancer, and Secretariat keep popping up.

Forever Young is inbred to supersire Mr. Prospector, who appears three times. Aside from his aforementioned roles in Real Steel and Congrats, “Mr. P” also factors as the paternal grandsire of Roamin Rachel.

Northern Dancer, the 1964 Derby hero and breed-shaping patriarch, is an even more frequent influence, beyond what’s visible in Forever Young’s five-generation table. Real Steel alone has three crosses, via Lyphard (in Deep Impact), Storm Bird (Storm Cat’s sire), and Nureyev (sire of Miesque). Forever Darling is likewise inbred to Northern Dancer, who pops up in the maternal ancestry of Congrats, and in the sire line of Darling My Darling, by Deputy Minister.

Moreover, since ancestors Storm Cat and A.P. Indy are both out of mares by the all-time great Secretariat, Forever Young can boast a duplication of the 1973 Triple Crown record-smasher.

10. Ancestor Clever Trick was sired by Ruffian’s half-brother.

Roamin Rachel is out of a mare by Clever Trick, whose sire, Icecapade, is a half-brother to the dazzling if ill-fated filly Ruffian. Both Icecapade and Ruffian were foaled by Shenanigans, a mare by Hall of Famer Native Dancer. Icecapade is by Nearctic, the same sire as Northern Dancer, and bred on the same cross (since Northern Dancer is likewise out of a mare by Native Dancer, Natalma).

Clever Trick is a source of speed and precocity as a sprinter, but no flash in the pan as a sire. Clever Trick’s son Tricky Creek sired the blue hen Leslie’s Lady, dam of perennial leading sire Into Mischief, Hall of Famer Beholder, and Mendelssohn. Another son of Clever Trick, Phone Trick, sired Favorite Trick, who was an historical rarity as the Horse of the Year at two in 1997 (and now factors in the pedigree of Japan Road invitee T O Password).

Clever Trick’s daughter Regal Feeling is the ancestress of two-time champion Lookin at Lucky and fellow Eclipse Award winner Wait a While. Other Clever Trick mares have produced the successful stallion Yes It’s True; Hong Kong celebrity Elegant Fashion; and Mizdirection, who twice beat males in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.