A few days before the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga this summer, Chad Brown thought about Sierra Leone’s second in the Kentucky Derby and his third in the Belmont Stakes and looked ahead.
It was the only choice, really.
Narrow losses like those two – with bumps, drifts, a stumbling start, an eight-wide bid, a photo finish – will make a trainer question the career choice let alone whether his horse will ever be good enough to break through on a big stage.
“When he has been defeated, it hasn’t been by much,” Brown said then. “I’m proud of the horse. He always tries and shows up in his races. He’s matured a lot over the summer. He’s gotten to the point where I’m actually working him solo and he’s doing it nicely. I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll see the best of him the second half of the year.”
Like Freddie Freeman in the World Series, Sierra Lone came through when it counted.
The colt made Brown sweat through two more losses – as the favorite – to Fierceness at Saratoga in the Jim Dandy and Travers, but delivered in the biggest of big spots to win the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Saturday. Racing for Peter Brant, Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith, Sierra Leone took revenge on Fierceness late to score by 1 1/2 lengths. Japan’s Forever Young finished third as 3-year-olds occupied the race’s top three spots. Flavien Prat rode the winner, who covered 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.78.
The win was Sierra Leone’s first since April’s Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and his fourth in nine lifetime starts to go with three seconds and two thirds. The $2.3 million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase collected $3.64 million for the win and made his case for year-end divisional honors as champion male 3-year-old.
Bred in Kentucky by Debby Oxley, the son of Gun Runner earned it.
Derma Sotogake rolled to the front early from post six, followed by 5-2 favorite Fierceness, Mixto and Forever Young. Whitney winner Arthur’s Ride applied pressure on the outside as Sierra Leone drifted to 11th after a quick first quarter-mile in :22.43. The leaders threw more coal on the fire through a half-mile posting of :44.96. Sierra Leone spotted them 13 1/4 lengths. Fierceness took over with three-eighths of a mile to go and built a 1-length lead on the turn as Derma Sotogake gave way. Behind them, Sierra Leone worked up to eighth – in touch, in the clear, on target. He passed Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Highland Falls, cleared out from behind Newgate off the turn and – straight as can be – went after Fierceness at the top of the stretch. Fierceness fought back, but was no match in the final stages.
Consistent but winless in major races in May, June, July and August, Sierra Leone came through in November.
“I’m just so first proud of the horse,” said Brown afterward. “To lose the Kentucky Derby by a nose, for a trainer, horse, connections, jockey, everyone involved, it’s about as heartbreaking of a loss as you can have in this game of horse racing. For him to come out of that race, the grueling Triple Crown trail, just shows so much physical and mental constitution, consistency, soundness, to last the whole year, not only the races, but the workouts and such in between, a lot goes into it. For him to be on the Derby trail since January, in the winner’s circle today against some of the top horses in the world, nearly all the credit goes to the horse. He’s just a remarkable horse in soundness and mind and raw talent.”
Sierra Leone won his debut a year earlier – Breeders’ Cup Saturday Nov. 4, 2023 – at Aqueduct and was beaten a nose by Dornoch in the Grade 2 Remsen to cap last year. The 3-year-old campaign began with a Grade 2 win in the Risen Star in February and ratcheted up with that Blue Grass score in April. In the Kentucky Derby, he did everything but win when second to Mystik Dan after rallying from 18th early, leaning in late and trading bumps with Forever Young in the stretch. Prat replaced Tyler Gaffalione for the Belmont at Saratoga in June, and Sierra Leone started as the favorite only to stumble from the gate, get too far back, weave around in the stretch and settle for third behind Dornoch. Brown aimed for the full Saratoga meet and his horse delivered solid – if losing – performances when second to Fierceness in the Jim Dandy and third to the same rival and star filly Thorpedo Anna in the Travers while favored in both.
Somehow, defeat didn’t dissuade the horse.
“A lot of horses, if they run into a little series of close defeats, you can make the case that some of them get accustomed to it or comfortable with it,” Brown said. “This is not a horse I felt that way about. He had a little bit of an excuse at Saratoga. He didn’t quite have the pace to run into and he was on a track in hindsight he probably didn’t care for. It all came together for him when it counted.”
Co-owner Brook Smith emphasized – loudly – all that and more in the winner’s circle and on the walk to the post-race champagne toast.
“Nobody was ever down on the horse,” he said. “Was it frustrating? Yes. But frustrating is not the right word, not even disappointment. It’s just so close and you know the ability was there. He doesn’t always win, but you know he’s going to be there.”
He had to be. The fast fractions came for Derma Sotogake, who faded to 13th, Mixto (11th) and Arthur’s Ride (12th), but Travers winner Fierceness didn’t flinch. Head low and stride long, Sierra Leone wore him down.
“When Fierceness just started kicking in, the two of them fought,” Smith said. “Look, he won the race because if he didn’t, Fierceness was going to win it.”
Prat allowed his horse to work into the race on a loose rein, and didn’t ask for much until the top of the stretch. The jockey pulled his whip through to his left hand there, got a lead change and Sierra Leone stayed straight and true through the finish.
“Obviously the pace was good and we found ourselves in a good spot,” Prat said. “I was able to stay outside and the whole way around it felt like I was gaining ground on the leaders. Actually I was a bit worried that I got there too soon but once I got the lead, I asked him to make his move and that was it.”
The result left the 3-year-old title picture as hazy as a marine-layered sunset. Fierceness won two Grade 1 stakes – the Florida Derby and the Travers. With wins in the Blue Grass and Classic, Sierra Leone also doubled at the highest level. Head to head, they met four times. Fierceness won the Jim Dandy and Travers, finished second in the Classic and was a well-beaten 15th in the Derby. Sierra Leone finished second in the Derby, hit the board behind Fierceness in the Jim Dandy and Travers and won the Classic.
“Well, I have a lot of respect for Fierceness,” Brown said. “I just feel like today on this track that neither of them had run – they both ran very well, down to the wire. I think the narrow edge would go to our horse. Fierceness is a great horse, runs fast numbers. But I think our horse’s body of work overall, the consistency of him. He didn’t throw races in where he didn’t get his way, he was way off the board or anything like that . . . I know that I’m biased, but to answer as objectively as I can, it’s hard for me to see that he’s not the best 3-year-old.”
