For the second straight 12 months, Ceaselessly Younger connected in a stretch duel with a extremely gifted rival within the lengthy stretch at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and for the second straight 12 months, he prevailed. This time, it was within the $20 million 2026 Saudi Cup on the expense of runner-up Nysos.
Each Ceaselessly Younger and Nysos sat comfortably off the tempo early within the race held at 1,800 meters (about 1 1/8 miles) on Feb. 14. Turning for dwelling, jockey Ryusei Sakai slipped Ceaselessly Younger by way of a gap alongside the rail whereas Flavien Prat urged Nysos up on the surface. It was near the 200-meter marker when it began appearing Ceaselessly Younger wouldn’t be caught. The ultimate margin was a size.
“I want shorter stretches, nevertheless it would not have made any distinction,” stated Nysos’s coach Bob Baffert, who now has completed second on this race 4 instances.
Ceaselessly Younger was clocked in 1:51.03 for the space. He paid $2.70 for a $2 win wager in worldwide pari-mutuel wagering.
Tumbarumba completed one other 3 3/4 lengths behind Nysos in third whereas one size higher than Bishops Bay in fourth. Rattle N Roll, who was fifth a 12 months earlier, completed ninth. Baffert’s second runner, Nevada Seashore, completed twelfth of 13 starters.
Truly, Ceaselessly Younger, a 5-year-old son of the sire Actual Metal, appeared to have a better time of it than when he edged Hong Kong’s globetrotting champ Romantic Warrior in a back-and-forth battle within the 2025 Saudi Cup.
“He is nonetheless not one hundred pc, however when (Nysos) approached the highest of the stretch, I used to be assured,” stated coach Ceaselessly Younger’s coach Yoshito Yahagi, a.okay.a. “the Man within the Hat.” Yahagi now has gained three of the seven runnings of the Saudi Cup together with with Panthalassa in 2023.
Ceaselessly Younger burst on the Japanese racing scene in October of 2023, successful his first three begins. His connections then despatched the colt to Saudi Arabia for the 2024 Saudi Derby. Wanting sluggish on the high of the lengthy stretch in that race, it appeared Ceaselessly Younger was nicely crushed as New Jersey-based E-book’em Danno spurted out to an enormous lead. However as soon as in gear, Ceaselessly Younger closed the hole and gained by a head.
Ceaselessly Younger had a better time of it successful the UAE Derby in Dubai a month later and earned a visit to the 2024 Kentucky Derby offered by Woodford Reserve, a race that produced a memorable three-way photograph with Ceaselessly Younger ending third, two noses behind Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone.
After an extended relaxation, Ceaselessly Younger returned to win the Japan Dust Basic in October, then was third within the 2024 Longines Breeders’ Cup Basic gained by Sierra Leone. He concluded that season with a win within the G1 Tokyo Daishoten at Oi Racecourse.
Ceaselessly Younger produced his signature win within the 2025 Saudi Cup. In what boiled right down to a two-horse race, he surrendered the result in Romantic Warrior, then rallied to catch and defeat that confirmed world traveler by a neck. Coach Yahagi blamed pre-race misadventure for his subsequent third within the 2025 Dubai World Cup.
After one other lengthy layoff and a prep in Japan, he returned to Del Mar to win the 2025 Longines Breeders’ Cup Basic, holding off acquainted foe Sierra Leone by a half-length.
With the Saudi Cup a part of the Breeders’ Cup Problem “Win and You are In” sequence, Ceaselessly Younger earned a paid, automated berth into this fall’s Breeders’ Cup Basic at Keeneland.
Nysos’ efficiency, even in shedding, arguably was a triumph in its personal proper. Regardless of his file coming into the Cup of seven wins from eight begins, Nysos has been a mission for Baffert, his profession interrupted by setbacks. He got here to Saudi Arabia after successful the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Dust Mile and the Grade 2 Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes in his final two races.
Baffert famous the Saudi Cup is “a gap in my résumé. It is one race I have never gained and I need to win it. If we do not get it carried out this 12 months, we’ll preserve coming again.”
If he does, he might need to face Ceaselessly Younger once more.
“I am delighted how he gained,” stated proprietor Susumu Fujita. “The plan was to retire on the finish of the 12 months. However I may lengthen that by two extra months for one more Saudi Cup.”
