Sierra Leone, back at Saratoga, points to Whitney
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Sierra Leone, the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner who went 0 for 3 in Saratoga last summer, had his first workout over the main track here since last September on Sunday, going a half-mile in 48.80 seconds in company with the 3-year-old Hill Road.
Sierra Leone, coming off a second-place finish behind Mindframe in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 28, is pointing to the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on Aug. 2.
Sierra Leone last year at Saratoga finished third in the Belmont Stakes and Travers and second in the Jim Dandy. Trainer Chad Brown felt that Sierra Leone may not have cared for Saratoga’s main track as he did other venues such as Churchill Downs and Del Mar. But he noted tracks change and he believes Sierra Leone has certainly changed and is going to give him another try over it in the Whitney.
“I do think he’s improved,” Brown said. “Heading into the fall, he was at his very best and I see him now rounding into his best. I think he was still developing at the time, so I’m hoping that accounted for the little bit of coming up short. It’s another season, tracks change, they get material, they get worked on, they get sealed, they get opened up … it doesn’t always have to be the same type of track season to season.”
Sierra Leone showed some rust when he finished third in the New Orleans Classic in March and Brown felt he ran a much better race when beaten a length by Mindframe in the Stephen Foster.
“I love where I’m at with the horse,” Brown said.
Hill Road, who won the Peter Pan and was fourth in the Belmont Stakes, is pointing to the Jim Dandy.
Of Sunday’s workout, which was the first time Hill Road worked with Sierra Leone, Brown said, “I was pleasantly surprised how much he hung in there with Sierra Leone.”
Among the plethora of workers for Brown on Sunday was Ways and Means, who went a half-mile in 49.66 seconds over the Oklahoma training track. Though she is nominated to next Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss Stakes, Brown said Ways and Means will wait for the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 23.
Ways and Means, last year’s Grade 1 Test winner, is coming off a 7 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses on June in which she earned a 111 Beyer Speed Figure.
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