Forever Young entered for Irish Champion Stakes debut at Leopardstown
Forever Young’s entry turns Leopardstown’s €1.25 million Group 1 into a global test case. A first European start, and a first turf start, would redraw the Irish Champion Stakes conversation.
Forever Young has been entered for the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, and if he runs, the Japanese star will make his first trip to Europe and his first start on turf in one of Ireland’s biggest races.
The 1¼-mile Group 1, worth €1.25 million, sits at the center of Irish Champions Festival, with Leopardstown hosting day one on Saturday, September 12, 2026, before The Curragh stages the second day on Sunday, September 13. The Irish Champion Stakes has been a headline middle-distance prize since 1976, and Forever Young’s presence immediately gives the race a wider international edge.
That is the point of this entry: Leopardstown is no longer just pulling in the usual European elite, it is drawing a horse whose résumé already includes the Saudi Cup and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Forever Young, trained by Yoshito Yahagi and owned by Susumu Fujita, is the second-highest stakes earner of all time, and his name landing in the early list changes the shape of the betting conversation before the field is even finalized.
Leopardstown CEO Mark Clayton said the 2026 entries are the best the race has ever received at the initial stage, and the early roll call backs him up. Calandagan, the 2025 world champion, is in the mix, along with Daryz, the reigning Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero, and Constitution Hill, whose popularity stretches well beyond racing’s core audience.
Forever Young is the wildcard that makes the whole thing more than a strong renewal. The horse has never raced on turf, and he has never raced in Europe, so this would be a serious ask, not a routine raid. If he lines up, Leopardstown becomes a live experiment in whether a top Japanese dirt horse can cross over on a major European stage and still hold his place among the best older horses in the world.
Delacroix won the 2025 Irish Champion Stakes, but this year’s early entries suggest a deeper, more international contest at the top of the division. If Forever Young actually makes the trip, it would not just be a headline for one race. It would be another sign that Japan’s best horses are willing to travel for Europe’s premier middle-distance prizes, and that Leopardstown is now firmly on that map.
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