Susumu Fujita's Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) will look to become just the second horse in the 43-year history of the GI Breeders' Cup Classic to record multiple victories and the Yoshito Yahagi trainee will jump from gate five with Ryusei Sakai up against seven classy rivals.What the Classic may lack in numbers, it makes up for in intrigue.Forever Young, who has averaged better than $2 million in each of his 16 times he's taken to a racetrack, was made the 2-1 favorite to win the $7-million feature. Like he did when third to Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in 2024 and again when turning the tables on that close familial relation at Del Mar last year, the bay turned in a successful prep, this time away from Japan, as he ran out a 3 1/4-length winner of a Sovereignty (Into Mischief)-free GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at the shiny new Belmont Park Sept. 18.For his part, Sovereignty gets his chance to put pay to the bad taste from last year when he was unfortunately withdrawn from the Classic early in the week. After returning to something approaching his best in the GI Whitney Stakes in August, the homebred was forced to miss the Gold Cup due to a minor setback. He was in one of those proverbial 'everything needs to go right' positions over the last six weeks, but that it has, and the reigning Horse of the Year will once again have Junior Alvarado in the irons from the two as the 5-2 second choice.Trainer Bill Mott, who won the Classic in 1995 with Cigar and again in 2011 with Drosselmeyer, confirmed Monday morning that 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Knightsbridge (Nyquist) had been green-lighted by the Godolphin braintrust to take his spot in the Classic. Though he would have been a clear-cut favorite had he remained in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, connections are happy to take their chances with a very formidable duo. When last seen, Knightsbridge was an overwhelming winner of the GI Pacific Classic, his first attempt over the mile and a quarter.“I'm fine with it,” said Mott. “I think it's a great opportunity to have two horses in the Breeders' Cup Classic. We vacillated over separating them. We always like to have a chance to win two races, but I think they both fit and they both deserve their spot in the Classic.“Sovereignty is coming up to this very good right now, he had a good work over the racetrack. Both horses we have are doing well, and knock on wood, hopefully everything remains good until Saturday. They have different running styles and are not going to hinder each other.”For the first time in a race of any variety since 1991, two winners of the GI Kentucky Derby face off. 'TDN Rising Star' Golden Tempo (Curlin) takes on his elders for the first time and will break from gate three with Jose Ortiz, looking to improve on a better-than-it-looked third in the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 29. Prior to that, the homebred took out the GI Belmont Stakes at 10 furlongs and he is giving trainer Cherie DeVaux all the right signs coming into the Classic.“Ultra-confident,” DeVaux said after safely negotiating the steps up into the ring in the Keeneland sales pavilion. “Obviously we understand that he has to do some progressing, but he hasn't done much wrong. He's on the same trajectory with how he looks and how he trains, so we're pretty confident he's going to put in a top effort.”Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) was victorious in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown in the GI Preakness Stakes and was just beaten into second in the GI Haskell Stakes and the Travers. He, too, had an option for the Dirt Mile, but opts for the more shark-infested waters of the Classic.The grey has drawn widest in the field of eight and will have some speed underneath him in the form of Magnitude (Not This Time), who claimed the scalp of Forever Young in this year's G1 Dubai World Cup. He tacked on a smart tally in the GI Stephen Foster Stakes in his next appearance, but was below his best behind Sovereignty in the GI Whitney Stakes. He is likely to be ridden forward by Flavien Prat, who takes over for Ortiz.The Puma (Essential Quality), fourth in the Haskell and again in the Travers, put it all together last time with a visually impressive victory over the Dirt Mile-bound 'Rising Star' Further Ado (Gun Runner) in the GI Pennsylvania Derby. His connections made their intentions known earlier this week, and The Puma could be coming at them late if the pace is on.T O Password (Jpn) (Copano Rickey {Jpn}) draws the rail as he swings for the fences in the Classic over the Dirt Mile, where his chances appeared much more favorable. A creditable fifth to Mystik Dan (Goldencents) in the 2024 Derby, the bay was a latest third to 2025 Derby also-ran Luxor Cafe (American Pharoah) in the G3 Elm Stakes at Sapporo in early August.This story will be updatedSaturday, Keeneland, post time: 6:13 p.m. ETBREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC-GI, $7,000,000, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m1 T O Password (Jpn) (Copano Rickey {Jpn}), Kimura, Takayanagi, 30-12 Sovereignty (Into Mischief), Alvarado, Mott, 5-23 Golden Tempo (Curlin), Ortiz, DeVaux, 5-14 The Puma (Essential Quality), Castellano, Delgado, 10-15 Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), Sakai, Yahagi, 2-16 Magnitude (Not This Time), Prat, Asmussen, 6-17 Knightsbridge (Nyquist), Saez, Mott, 9-28 Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map), Velazquez, Summers, 15-1The post Five For Forever Young As Favorite In Breeders’ Cup Classic appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.