Photo:

Renee Torbit / Churchill Downs

Breeders’ Cup Classic candidate Forever Young, who has not
raced since he finished a close third in the Kentucky Derby, reportedly developed
a high temperature during a workout Wednesday morning in Japan. That did not
keep his trainer from saying the 3-year-old colt will ready for a final prep
race next week.

Yoshito Yahagi told Umatoku, a Japan racing website,
that the colt’s getting warm could be excused with the 90-degree weather that
greeted workers at the Ritto training center just outside Osaka.

“We’ll do a short workout Sunday, but we’ll do a stronger one
with the intention of it being his final workout,” Yahagi said. “He had a fever
in the middle of (Wednesday’s work), which delayed him, but that can’t be
helped with this heat. He’s finally coming along, and I think he’s in good
shape.”

Forever Young, a Real Steel colt owned by Susumu Fujita,
worked in company with 4-year-old Libyan Glass. His jockey Ryusei Sakai kept a
tight rein, according to Umatoku, and was clocked at 1:21.4 for the six-furlong
work on wood chips, going the last sixteenth of a mile in 11.5 seconds.

Undefeated in five starts in Japan, Forever Young is being
aimed to start next Wednesday at Ohi in the Japan Dirt Classic, one of the top stakes in
Japan’s second-level National Association of Racing. Ramjet, who is on a
four-race winning streak, also worked Wednesday and is expected to go against
Forever Young next week.

Forever Young remains on a path to the Breeders’ Cup Classic
on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.