DEL MAR — Last May, Sierra Leone lost the Kentucky Derby by a heartbreaking nose after a rough stretch battle, and for race after race and defeat after defeat after that, it seemed he had let his best shot at glory slip away.
Saturday at Del Mar racetrack, with even more at stake in the Breeders’ Cup, the relentless 3-year-old colt got it all back.
Sierra Leone and jockey Flavien Prat staged their patented rally from near the back of the 14-horse field and this time got up 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, the New York-based trainer who has always expected a major win from the a horse who cost $2.3 million at a yearling auction for owners Peter Brant, Susan Magnier and Michael Tabor. “Losing the Kentucky Derby the way he did, by just not running straight, was really, really hard to take.”
Fierceness, the betting favorite and top-ranked U.S. thoroughbred, finished second, probably dooming his Horse of the Year chances because the dominant filly Thorpedo Anna capped her season by winning the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff earlier in the afternoon.
Behind Fierceness came Forever Young, also third-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby – meaning 3-year-olds ran 1-2-3 in the Classic.
The memory for fans in much of the world will be that City of Troy, the Epsom Derby winner and star of the British turf trying to win on dirt, started slowly and was never closer than his final position of eighth.
But for fans in America, the memory will be seeing Sierra Leone win for the first time in five starts since his Blue Grass Stakes victory with then-rider Tyler Gaffalione in Kentucky last April.
“His form sort of fell off in the public eye a little bit, and he became a disappointing horse, I guess,” Brown said as he walked from the winner’s circle to a press conference.
Brown and Prat thought Sierra Leone disliked the Saratoga running surface when he finished third behind Dornoch in the Belmont Stakes, second to Fierceness in the Jim Dandy and third to Fierceness and Thorpedo Anna in the Travers.
It’s understandable if Sierra Leone lined Del Mar better: His sire, Gun Runner, won the Classic here in 2017, the first of the three times the Breeders’ Cup has been held at the San Diego County track.
“He finally got a pace to run at,” said Brown, who thought Sierra Leone’s starting spot in post 11 worked to his advantage by giving Prat more room to find the right position.
Sierra Leone as far back as 11 th, about 10 lengths off the pace, early in the 1 1/4-mile race, but that wasn’t a bad spot since pacesetter Derma Sotogake was clicking off quick quarter-mile fractions of 22.43, 44.96 and 1:09.44. Derma Sotogake ended up 13th. 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 be satisfied with a year that included Grade I wins in the Florida Derby and Travers but also defeats as the favorite in the Derby and Classic.
As for the Horse of the Year title that might have been Fierceness’ if he’d won, Thorpedo Anna stated her case to Eclipse Award voters less than an hour and a half before the Classic by winning the Distaff by 2 1/2 lengths, never looking as if she could lose at 2-5 odds.
Without a clear front-runner in the race, reduced to eight fillies and mares by three scratches that included the undefeated Japanese threat Awesome Result, it was easy for Thorpedo Anna and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. to take an early lead for the first time since her front-running win in the Kentucky Oaks five starts back.
Raging Sea and Flavien Prat pressed Thorpedo Anna from the outside all the way to the stretch, when the star began to pull away. Hernandez didn’t let up. The winner galloped out strongly.
“We wanted to make it as impressive as possible, to win Horse of the Year, right?” Hernandez said as he walked from the winner’s circle to a press conference.
To the 38-year-old jockey from Louisiana who has been aboard Thorpedo Anna for all 10 of her races – and eight victories – the Distaff win made her the Horse of the Year.
“She’s the only horse this year that’s won as many Grade I’s as she has,” Hernandez said. “That’s five now.”
The queen of American racing entered the winner’s circle to cheers from the large crowd.
“To hear the crowd cheering her on, it was really special,” Hernandez said.
Trainer Kenny McPeek revealed in the interview room that Thorpedo Anna had lost a day of training during the week because she sustained a cut on a hip in transit from Saratoga and then developed a hematoma on a stifle.
“A little nerve-wracking the first couple of days that she was here to get that cleaned up and sorted out,” McPeek said. “Fortunately, she’s tough and she went out there and (resumed training) with it.”
McPeek said he and the ownership group, led by Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards and breeder Judy Hicks, plan to continue racing Thorpedo Anna in her 4-year-old season.
But first, Horse of the Year voters will deliver the verdict on this season.
Sierra Leone’s win could make him the champion 3-year-old male, while Thorpedo Anna has the 3-year-old filly crown locked up – and maybe more.
This story will be updated.