As he approached the starting gate, ready for loading as the 8-5 favorite for the Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes on April 6 at Keeneland, the 3-year-old colt Sierra Leone decided the proceedings would have to wait. Who were these raucous humans, clustered so near the racing oval, impinging upon Sierra Leone’s imperial space? Yes, Sierra Leone delayed the Blue Grass start, unwilling to enter his stall while scrutinizing the fans. No fearful act, this, no display of uncertainty. Sierra Leone, while stubborn, never lost his composure, never appeared fretful. He required a more complete understanding of his surroundings. Everything else fell into line behind his will. Sierra Leone, when he was ready, easily went out and won the Blue Grass. Sierra Leone is a boss. He commands space, commands attention, and has racing ability matching his presence. He has not won every start, but Sierra Leone always comes with his run. He has not been uncomplicated, a series of lugging ins, laying ons, and general inability to keep a straight course, compromising, to some extent, his entire career and leading his trainer, Chad Brown, down a rabbit hole of bit changes. Had he been a nose better and won the Woodford Reserve Kentucky Derby instead of attempting to assault Forever Young, Sierra Leone would rate as a slam-dunk 3-year-old champion. The Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, where the colt finally put everything together, might get him there anyway. :: Full list of 2024 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories A $2.3 million yearling purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale campaigned by Peter M. Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook T. Smith and sent to Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brown, Sierra Leone never has not known the spotlight. He lost more races than he won, four to three, during his 2024 campaign, but Sierra Leone made it from Louisiana in mid-February to California in early November not just intact but at the peak of his powers. Granted, a breakneck pace that compromised chief rival Fierceness helped propel him to Breeders’ Cup glory, but in the Classic, Sierra Leone finally fully expressed the full breadth of his capacious capability. What was Sierra Leone’s worst performance among seven this season? Likely the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga, and even there, impeded at the top of the stretch, Sierra Leone surged to finish a commendable third. Sierra Leone might not mark down the Saratoga surface as his favorite, yet spent much of his season there, made three starts over the track, a solid second in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes, a strong third in the Grade 1 DraftKings Travers Stakes. Stop his campaign on Aug. 25 and Sierra Leone would’ve put together a season categorized as excellent yet unsatisfying. The colt’s obvious elite ability, with personality to match, was compromised by his habit of badly lugging in – an especially vexing conundrum for an inveterate closer. History has shown Brown to be an unusually determined and resolute human being. Brown swore all year he’d figure out how to make Sierra Leone run straight. In the Classic, pink-silked Flavien Prat no more than gently nudged Sierra Leone, coming from 10th, and picked off rivals one by one around Del Mar’s far turn. Past the quarter pole, cornering for home, only Fierceness in front of him – Sierra Leone finally held his line. He won by 1 1/2 lengths. He could be a champion. The Gun Runner colt, bred by Debby M. Oxley, will be campaigned as a 4-year-old in 2025. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.