Pacesetting Track Phantom could not hold off hard charging Sierra Leone on Saturday at Fair Grounds in the Risen Star Stakes, but next month in the Louisiana Derby he won’t have to. While Track Phantom is a likely runner in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 23, Sierra Leone will be pointed to the $1 million Blue Grass Stakes on April 6 at Keeneland, trainer Chad Brown confirmed Sunday. Brown had said before the Risen Star that his intention was to use the Fair Grounds race and the Blue Grass as Sierra Leone’s path to the Kentucky Derby. Sierra Leone earned 50 Derby qualifying points Saturday and his 55 points will get him into the Derby, a race for which he is emerging as a major player. Sierra Leone, by Gun Runner, has started just three times, winning a one-turn maiden mile on Nov. 4 before a tough second-place finish Dec. 2 in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, where he rallied from far back, took the lead over pacesetting Dornoch, but lost momentum as Dornoch came back to win by a nose.  Brown added blinkers with small cups for the Risen Star, and this time, Sierra Leone maintained his run to the wire. Racing well off a slow half-mile pace, Sierra Leone still was just seventh at the quarter pole before Tyler Gaffalione, riding the colt for the first time, guided him to the middle of the track to run down pacesetting Track Phantom. Sierra Leone clocked 1:52.13 for 1 1/8 miles over a sloppy, sealed track and earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. In the Remsen, also run over a wet track, Sierra Leone got a 91 Beyer. A fast final-time figure was all but impossible Saturday given the Risen Star’s slow pace, and Sierra Leone got his final furlong in an excellent 12.22 seconds. “Very impressed how he overcame the track, slow pace, layoff, long van ride,” Brown said. “Serious horse.” :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2024: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Track Phantom also has 55 Derby qualifying points, and while his connections surely were disappointed that he failed to win after coasting alone on the lead through a slow 49.67-second half-mile, Track Phantom was racing over a surface not especially kind to speed and possibly favoring outside closers.  “He got away from there cleanly, got into a beautiful rhythm. I thought we were in a position to win,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “We’re obviously disappointed with the outcome but we’ll go back to the track and make plans.” Those plans call for a start in the Louisiana Derby over 1 3/16 miles. Track Phantom earlier at the Fair Grounds meet won the Gun Runner Stakes and the Lecomte Stakes, both 1 1/16-mile contests. Hall of Fame, jumping from a fast maiden win last month into the Risen Star, where he was the 7-2 third choice, never really got involved and checked in seventh. “That was not his race at all. Whether it was the going under him or coming back and hitting him, he never got into a good rhythm,” said Assmussen, adding that plans were fluid for Hall of Fame. Asmussen-trained Perfect Shot set the pace and held third, earning a graded stakes-placing in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra, but she ran no better than her fellow 3-year-old filly stablemate Our Pretty Woman, who followed up a two-turn debut win with a front-running score Saturday in a first-level allowance. Perfect Shot got an 81 Beyer, Our Pretty Woman an 82. Both fillies will run back in a graded stakes, Asmussen said, and one likely will show up in the Fair Grounds Oaks. Pletcher duo notch wins While trainer Todd Pletcher’s two Risen Star runners, Moonlight and Cardinale, finished ninth and 11th, respectively, Pletcher won with two other 3-year-old colts on Saturday’s card. Second-time starter Antiquarian was a narrow victor of a maiden route, getting an 80 Beyer, while Tuscan Sky looked like a real player for Triple Crown races capturing a first-level route allowance race early on the card. Tuscan Sky, coming off a debut sprint win at Aqueduct, faced only two rivals, but one of them was the established stakes horse Nash, favored at 1-2. Tuscan Sky chased Nash and wore him down, winning by two lengths and clocking the fastest 1 1/16-mile among five such races Saturday, 1:43.74. That raw time was faster than the older horse Money Supply ran in the Mineshaft Stakes, 1:44.03, and Tuscan Sky, a son of Vino Rosso, got a 95 Beyer. Money Supply got a 96 because the figure makers decided the track slowed as the 14-race card wore on. “Any time you’re in a match race situation and not the speed of the race, and you’re able to win, it’s an added compliment to the horse, and that further enhanced what kind of colt we thought he is,” Pletcher said. “He’ll run in a major Derby prep. Not sure which one.” Pletcher said Antiquarian is a candidate to run back in the Louisiana Derby. The son of Preservationist tracked a slow pace and took the lead before the quarter pole. “I was a little worried he’d get lost when he made the lead. He’s still learning to polish off a race. The Louisiana Derby would be at the top of our list. We’re thinking he’d appreciate the 1 3/16 miles,” said Pletcher, who trains Antiquarian for Centennial Farms. Moonlight will make his next start on turf or in the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park. Tarifa to Fair Grounds Oaks or Ashland Saturday was not one of trainer Brad Cox’s dominant Fair Grounds showings, but Tarifa did stamp herself a major player for the Kentucky Oaks winning the Grade 2, $400,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes. Tarifa clocked 1:45.28 for 1 1/16 miles and earned a career-best 90 Beyer, which puts her right at the top of the 3-year-old filly division.  “That’s two big figures at Fair Grounds including the 86 [Beyer] in her allowance race” last month, Cox said. “She definitely went forward again.” Tarifa races next either in the Fair Grounds Oaks or in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland, where she won her debut last October.  The Cox-trained Alpine Princess tracked Perfect Shot’s moderate pace but came up empty in her first start since winning the Untapable Stakes on Dec. 23, while Catching Freedom turned in a solid performance finishing third in the Risen Star. Beaten 3 1/2 lengths by victorious Sierra Leone, Catching Freedom got an 87 Beyer, the same number he earned winning the Smarty Jones last month at Oaklawn. Cox said he could run back either in the Louisiana Derby or the Arkansas Derby. Despite losing to Tuscan Sky in allowance competition, 3-year-old colt Nash got a higher Beyer, 91, than Catching Freedom. Cox said the colt likely returns to stakes competition in his next start.  Honor Marie to Louisiana Derby Kentucky Jockey Club winner Honor Marie finished fifth in his first start since Nov. 25, beaten about 6 1/4 lengths in the Risen Star, but only Sierra Leone turned in a faster final furlong than Honor Marie’s 12.52, and trainer Whit Beckman saw enough to move on to the Louisiana Derby. “He had a couple things working against him going into the race, and the setup was not ideal. I wasn’t disappointed with the effort at all. It looked like he wanted more ground the last part of the race, and he wasn’t knocked out at all today,” Beckman said Sunday. Honor Marie had worked toward the Risen Star in company with an unraced maiden named Drip, who debuted with a bang Saturday. Drip, a son of Good Magic, led on a hot pace in a maiden sprint, fending off several challenges to win by 2 1/4 lengths. He smoked six furlongs in 1:09.77 and got a 94 Beyer.  Beckman went into the race high on Drip but was surprised at the colt’s display of early speed. “He’s a horse who’s not going to let horses by him, and I know he had plenty left. He came back completely unbothered by the experience,” Beckman said. Beckman and Legion Racing would like to run Drip back in a dirt-route allowance, preferably at Fair Grounds, to see if the colt can get into a Derby prep in April. ◗ Mineshaft Stakes winner Money Supply will make his next start in the Oaklawn Handicap or the New Orleans Classic, with the latter race the more likely option, trainer Joe Sharp said Sunday. ◗ Beatbox, who snuck up the rail to win the Fair Grounds Stakes, will run back in the Muniz Memorial, trainer Cherie DeVaux said. – additional reporting by David Grening :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.