In recent seasons, the name Yoshito Yahagi has become familiar to racing fans across the world. The Japanese trainer is best known today as the man behind Forever Young, the dirt star who has taken on the best horses in Saudi Arabia, the United States and beyond.
But Yahagi’s rise did not happen overnight. Long before Forever Young became a global name, the Tokyo-born trainer had spent decades building a career that combined patience, persistence and a willingness to think internationally.
His story is one of the most interesting in modern racing.
Growing Up Around Horses
Yoshito Yahagi was born on 20 March 1961 in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Racing was part of everyday life from the start. His father, Kazuto Yahagi, was a trainer at Oi Racecourse, which is part of Japan’s regional racing system.
That meant the young Yahagi grew up around stables, staff and race meetings. Horses were not something distant or romantic. They were part of the daily routine.
Even as a teenager, he showed interest in the training side of the sport. Rather than becoming a jockey, he was drawn to the strategy behind preparing horses for races. Training offered the chance to shape a horse’s career from the ground up.
But the path would not be easy.
Japan’s central racing authority, the Japan Racing Association (JRA), runs one of the most competitive trainer licensing systems in the world. If Yahagi wanted to train at the highest level, he would need to pass a difficult exam and secure a licence within that system.
Learning Overseas
Before attempting that step, Yahagi made a decision that would shape his entire career. He travelled abroad to learn more about how racing operated in other countries.
Australia became his classroom.
During his time there he worked around major racing centres such as Royal Randwick in Sydney and Flemington in Melbourne. The experience exposed him to a different racing culture.
Australian trainers were often more aggressive in their race placement. Horses ran more frequently and were campaigned with a bold approach to prize money and opportunity. The atmosphere around the sport also felt more open and direct.
For Yahagi, this period broadened his view of racing. It showed him that the sport did not have to be limited by national boundaries. If a horse was good enough, it could travel and compete anywhere.
That lesson would stay with him.
The Long Road to a Licence
After returning to Japan, Yahagi began working towards becoming a licensed trainer within the JRA system. Passing the trainer examination is notoriously difficult, and many capable horsemen fail repeatedly.
Yahagi was no exception.
He did not pass on his first attempt. Nor his second. Or his third.
In fact, it took fourteen attempts before he finally secured his trainer’s licence.
That persistence says a great deal about his character. Each year he had to prepare again, study again and face the same test. There was never any guarantee the next attempt would succeed.
When he finally passed the exam in 2004, he opened his own stable and began training under his own name. By that stage he was already in his early forties, with years of experience behind him.
It was a late start compared with some trainers, but it gave him a solid foundation.
Early Success and a Classic Winner
Like many new trainers, Yahagi’s early seasons were about building relationships with owners and establishing the structure of his yard.
Winners came steadily, but the real breakthrough arrived in 2012.
That year, Yahagi trained Deep Brillante to victory in the Tokyo Yushun, better known as the Japanese Derby. The race is one of the most prestigious events in Japanese racing and a win there immediately elevates a trainer’s reputation.
For Yahagi, the Derby success confirmed that his stable could compete with the most established yards in the country.
Contrail and Domestic Dominance
The next major chapter of Yahagi’s career came with Contrail.
In 2020, the colt completed the Japanese Triple Crown, winning the Satsuki Sho, Tokyo Yushun and Kikuka Sho in the same season. Achieving the Triple Crown is rare and demands careful management across different distances and race conditions.
Yahagi’s handling of the campaign was widely praised. Contrail later added further prestige by winning the Japan Cup in 2021.
By this stage, Yahagi was firmly established as one of Japan’s leading trainers.
But his ambitions extended beyond domestic racing.
Taking On the World
Over the past decade, Yahagi has become known for campaigning his horses internationally.
One of the early examples was Lys Gracieux, who travelled to Australia and produced a stunning performance to win the Cox Plate in 2019.
Two years later, Yahagi made history at the Breeders’ Cup meeting in the United States. Loves Only You won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, while Marche Lorraine captured the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Winning twice at the same Breeders’ Cup meeting was a remarkable achievement for a Japan-based trainer.
These successes helped establish Yahagi as one of the sport’s most internationally minded conditioners.
The Rise of Forever Young
In recent years, the horse most closely associated with Yahagi has been Forever Young.
The colt first made his mark by winning the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun in 2023. In 2024 he travelled to the Middle East, capturing both the Saudi Derby and the UAE Derby before returning to Japan to win the Japan Dirt Classic and the Tokyo Daishōten.
His biggest victories followed.
Forever Young won the Saudi Cup in 2025, defeating a top international field in the richest race in the world. Later that year he travelled to the United States and captured the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
In 2026 he returned to Riyadh and won the Saudi Cup again, becoming a back-to-back winner of the race.
Those victories confirmed Forever Young as one of the best dirt horses in the world and further strengthened Yahagi’s global reputation.
A Global Trainer
Today, Yoshito Yahagi is widely recognised as one of the leading figures in international racing. His stable combines the discipline and organisation associated with Japanese training with a willingness to campaign horses around the world.
From early life in a racing household to international victories on the biggest stages, his career reflects persistence and ambition.
And with horses like Forever Young carrying his colours to major races across the globe, Yahagi’s influence on modern racing looks set to continue for many years.
