Sierra Leone finally wins major Breeders’ Cup Classic – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

DEL MAR — Last May, Sierra Leone lost the Kentucky Derby by a heartbreaking nose after a tough fight, and after that, race after race and defeat after defeat, it looked like he had missed his best chance at glory.

On Saturday at Del Mar Race Course, where even more was at stake in the Breeders’ Cup, the tireless 3-year-old colt brought it all back.

Sierra Leone and jockey Flavien Prat made their patented rally from the bottom of the 14-horse field and this time rose in time to win the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic by 1 1/2 lengths .

“He (Sierra Leone) really deserved this day,” said Chad Brown, a New York trainer who always expected a big win from the horse, which fetched $2.3 million at the yearling auction for owners Peter Brant, Susan Magnier and Michael. Camp. “To lose the Kentucky Derby the way he did, just because he didn’t run straight, was very, very hard to take.”

Firstness, the betting favorite and top U.S. Thoroughbred, finished second, likely dooming her Horse of the Year chances because the dominant Torpedo filly Anna ended her season by winning the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff earlier in the day.

Fierceness was followed by Forever Young, also third in the Kentucky Derby, meaning 3-year-olds were 1-2-3 in the Classic.

What will be remembered by fans around the world is that City of Troy, the Epsom Derby winner and British turf star trying to win on dirt, started slowly and never got closer to his final position of eighth.

But for American fans, the memory will be Sierra Leone winning for the first time in five starts since his Blue Grass Stakes victory with then-rider Tyler Gaffalione at Kentucky last April.

“His form has slipped a bit in the public eye and I think he’s become a disappointing horse,” Brown said as he walked from the winner’s circle to the press conference.

Brown and Prat thought that Sierra Leone did not like Saratoga’s running surface when he finished third to Dornoch in the Belmont Stakes, second to Firsness in the Jim Dandy, and third to Firsness and Torpedo Anna in the Travers.

It’s clear that Sierra Leone was a better fit for Del Mar: His sire, Gun Runner, won the Classic here in 2017, the first of three times the Breeders Cup has been held at the San Diego County track.

“He’s finally got the pace he can run at,” said Brown, who believed Sierra Leone’s starting position in position 11 benefited him by giving Prat more space to find the right position.

Sierra Leone was still in 11th place, about 10 lengths off the pace, at the start of the 1 1/4-mile race, but it was a good place as record holder Derma Sotogake quickly posted quarter-mile splits of 22.43, 44.96. and 1:09.44. Derma Sotogake finished in 13th place. The final time was 2:00.78.

Sierra Leone paid $15.80.

Meanwhile, Fierceness jockey John Velazquez, trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Mike Repole may have to settle for a year that included Grade I wins in the Florida Derby and Travers but also losses as the favorite in the Derby and Classic.

As for the Horse of the Year title, which could have been the Ferocity title had he won, Torpedo Anna made her case to Eclipse Award voters less than an hour and a half before the Classic, winning the Distaff by 2 1/2 lengths. never looked like she could lose at odds of 2-5.

Without a clear leader in the race, reduced to eight fillies and fillies by three scratches, including the undefeated Japanese threat. In a stunning result, it was easy for Torpedo Anna and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr to take the lead for the first time since then. her top-five Kentucky Oaks win starts backwards.

The Raging Sea and Flavien Prat pressed Torpedo Anna on the outside until the stretch, when the star began to break away. Hernandez didn’t give up. The winner galloped hard.

“We wanted to do it as impressively as possible to win Horse of the Year, right?” Hernandez said as he walked out of the winner’s circle to the press conference.

For the 38-year-old Louisiana jockey, who has been aboard Torpedo Anna for all 10 of her races—and eight wins—the distaff victory made her Horse of the Year.

“She’s the only horse this year that has won as many Grade Is as she has,” Hernandez said. “Now it’s five.”

The queen of American horse racing entered the winner’s circle to the applause of a large crowd.

“Hearing the crowd cheer her on was really special,” Hernandez said.

Trainer Kenny McPeak told the interview room that Torpedo Anna lost a day of practice during the week because she suffered a cut on her thigh while being transported from Saratoga and then developed a hematoma on her knee.