At the end of another stellar campaign, Sierra Leone came within a half-length of one of racing’s most mythical achievements. Since the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic was first run in 1984, 13 winners have returned to run in the race the following year. Tiznow, a solo titan, remains the only two-time Classic winner. Most returning winners have not come close, with eight finishing out of the money on their second attempt. In 2025, Sierra Leone and jockey Flavien Prat made their usual charge from the back of the pack at Del Mar. It was the same powerful move that catapulted the colt to Breeders’ Cup glory in 2024. This time, however, the late surge did not win the day, as Japanese rival Forever Young held on to win by a half-length. “I do think the track played against us, as you could see it being a bit speedy,” trainer Chad Brown said after the race. “That makes me feel even more pride, how well the horse ran. It’s remarkable that he’s the only horse that was able to make a run like that today.” :: Full list of 2025 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories Even for a horse accustomed to sweeping triumphs and tough defeats, coming up a half-length short of a second Breeders’ Cup Classic victory is uniquely disappointing. In peak form, it almost felt natural for the reigning race winner to defend his title, and he was far from disgraced in a vintage performance. Bred in Kentucky by Debby Oxley, Sierra Leone was purchased for $2.3 million by Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm and M.V. Magnier of Coolmore at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. He has been owned throughout his career by the group of Brant, Westerberg, Brook Smith, and Coolmore’s Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith. In 2025, he earned nearly $2.2 million in five starts and will soon begin stud duties at Coolmore America’s Ashford Stud with an announced stud fee of $75,000. To kick off his 4-year-old season, Sierra Leone, the 2024 champion 3-year-old male, triggered some early alarm bells in March when he ran third off the bench in the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic. Matters did not improve much when he returned in June and came up a length short behind Mindframe in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. All the pieces finally clicked into place in August, when the colt returned to Saratoga and powered home to win the Grade 1 Whitney by a length. If not for a near-disaster 29 days later in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, in which Prat was forced to steer Sierra Leone to avoid fallen jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., he might have made it two in a row before the Breeders’ Cup. On paper, it might seem like Sierra Leone spent most of his season as a snakebit runner-up. The truth is that he was always getting better, grinding water out of stone and finding more with each passing start. Winning at Del Mar might have lifted him to a loftier place in the record books, but it would not have proven anything that wasn’t already known. His greatness was always self-apparent. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.