DEL MAR, Calif. - In Sierra Leone, trainer Chad Brown thought he had the horse that was finally going to give him his first Kentucky Derby. Or maybe Belmont Stakes. Or Travers.
But Brown walked away from those three races empty-handed. Disappointed, not deterred, Brown set his sights on the Breeders’ Cup Classic the morning after the Aug. 24 Travers.
In a little more than two minutes, on a warm fall day in Southern California, the frustration of the spring and summer melted away as Sierra Leone outfought Fierceness to the wire in Saturday’s $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.
Fierceness, who attended an extremely hot pace, finished second, 1 1/4 lengths in front of Forever Young as 3-year-olds took the top three spots. The only 3-year-old who failed to perform up to par in the Classic was City of Troy, the European turf sensation who failed to get involved early in the race and finished eighth, beaten 13 lengths, in his first - and last - start on dirt.
For Brown, this was his 19th Breeders’ Cup victory, first in the Classic, the richest race run in the U.S. For Brown, this victory was about the horse who won the Risen Star in February and the Blue Grass in April, before getting beat a nose by Mystik Dan in the Kentucky Derby. At Saratoga, he was third in the Belmont, second in the Jim Dandy and third in the Travers.
“For him to have this moment and get over all the frustrations during the year, races that I went into thinking ‘wow I’m finally going to win the Derby, I’m finally going to win the Travers with this horse’ and to walk away unsaddling him without the win, this makes up for it all,” Brown said.
Brown thought there were three keys to victory. After those narrow defeats this summer Brown deduced that Sierra Leone didn’t care for Saratoga as perhaps he did other tracks.
For a horse that comes from off the pace, Sierra Leone is pace dependent. The fractions in the Classic were 44.96 for the half and 1:09.44 for six furlongs, set by Derma Sotogake and attended by Fierceness.
Lastly, Brown felt the outside draw - Sierra Leone left from post 11 - was an advantage.
“Outside draw, getting on a new surface and really a nuclear pace,” Brown said.
Under Flavien Prat, Sierra Leone was 11th, 13 lengths off the pace, after an opening half-mile. Sierra Leone was three-wide outside of Newgate and City of Troy.
About the five-furlong marker, Sierra Leone began advancing, moving from 13 1/2 lengths off the pace to 7 1/4 lengths out of it six furlongs into the race.
With three furlongs to run, Fierceness, the 5-2 favorite under John Velazquez, took over from Derma Sotogake, who was gassed.
But as quickly as Fierceness got to the front, Sierra Leone got to him turning for home. Sierra Leone made the lead above the eighth pole and was able to outfinish Fierceness to the wire.
“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,” Prat said.
Sierra Leone, a son of Gun Runner owned by the Coolmore connections of Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, Brook Smith and Peter Brant, covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.78, earned a 112 Beyer Speed Figure, and returned $15.80 as the fourth choice.
Fierceness did well to hold second after attending the hot early pace. Jockey John Velazquez said Fierceness got into the bridle when two horses to his outside leaving the gate came in on him.
“He grabbed onto the bridle and I knew then I was in trouble,” Velazquez said.
Pletcher grew concerned when he saw Fierceness so close to the pace after six furlongs in 1:09.44.
“How much farther can he go?” Pletcher said. “I thought he was super game to fight back for second.”
Forever Young, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby, a nose behind Sierra Leone, raced up close to the pace as well under Ryusei Sakai and just couldn’t see out the trip.
“He gave us everything, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the result,” trainer Yoshito Yahagi said through an interpreter. “The first horse and the second horse were better horses than us, that’s all we can say. That pace was fast, we tried to win, when I saw the clock maybe [it was] a little bit fast but we really tried.”
Following Forever Young in the order of finish were Newgate, Senor Buscador, Tapit Trice, Pyrenees, City of Troy, Highland Falls, Ushba Tesoro, Mixto, Arthur’s Ride, Derma Sotogake and Next.
There was immense hype around City of Troy all week. But the son of Justify became trainer Aidan O’Brien’s 18th starter in the Classic without a win. O’Brien said he knew his horse’s chances were compromised when he didn’t break sharp under Ryan Moore.
“I didn’t have him prepared to come out quick enough, he missed three lengths out of the gate, it gave Ryan no chance, really,” O’Brien said.
The victory by Sierra Leone over Fierceness will create debate for 3-year-old champion male. Both horses have two Grade 1 victories and each horse finished in front of the other twice in four meetings. That Fierceness finished 15th in the Kentucky Derby and Sierra Leone did not finish worse than third in seven starts this year, Brown believes, gives his horse the edge.
“The consistency of him firing every time, he didn’t throw a race in there where he didn’t get his way and he was way off the board,” Brown said. “No disrespect to [Fierceness], but our horse doesn’t have that on his resume. … For me, I know that I’m biased, to answer as objectively as I can, it’s hard for me to see that he’s not the best 3-year-old.”
When it comes to Horse of the Year, though, Brown believes that award could go to Thorpedo Anna, who won her fifth Grade 1 of the year when she captured the Distaff earlier on Saturday’s card.
“I’d say she’s the heavy favorite to get that,” Brown said. “If she were to get it, there’d be no argument from me personally.”
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