Sierra Leone's presence in New Orleans sends rivals running for the exits
?q=100)
NEW ORLEANS – Sierra Leone, not to put too fine a point on it, is among the best horses to run in the New Orleans Classic. Last year’s 3-year-old champion was one of 10 horses entered in the Grade 2, $400,000 dirt race contested over 1 1/8 miles. His presence has sent several potential rivals running for the exits.
Kinetic races Saturday at Oaklawn Park in the Essex Stakes, as does Tarantino. Uno Mas Bourbon won’t be shipping from Florida. Louisiana-bred standout Touchuponastar also could bow out, as his connections have a statebred-restricted option Sunday. Brad Cox, Kinetic’s trainer, said mid-week that Bishops Bay also might not participate.
Thus, Sierra Leone will have no more than six and as few as four opponents in his first start since his rousing Breeders’ Cup Classic win last November at Del Mar.
Owned by Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Westerberg, Sierra Leone’s connections initially targeted the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 22 for the colt’s 4-year-old bow, and Sierra Leone posted his first post-Classic workout Jan. 6. A late January foot abscess derailed the Middle East trip, but Sierra Leone’s workout gap only spanned 20 days.
Trainer Chad Brown floated the April 19 Oaklawn Handicap as a possible comeback spot, but instead has sent Sierra Leone to Fair Grounds, where he won the Risen Star two Februarys ago in kicking off his 3-year-old campaign.
“He’s ready to run now. I don’t want to keep training him,” Brown said.
Sierra Leone has breezed with a rotating cast of workmates at Brown’s Payson Park base. With only about two months separating his Breeders’ Cup and his first Payson work, Sierra Leone could not have lost too much fitness.
“His last few works have been quite good,” Brown said. “When he first started back, he was a little sluggish, but his last three works have been very sharp, clearly on the bridle, powering out like last year. I’m very comfortable running that horse.”
Touchuponastar would be a major pace player, but even in his absence, Sierra Leone, who always drops to the tail of the field early in his races, should have quick fractions in front of him. Maycocks Bay set a slow pace last month in the Mineshaft Stakes, passed late by Hall of Fame and Komorebino Omoide, but his connections might make better use of his ample early speed. And while Hall of Fame sat in the pocket behind Maycocks Bay before coming off the rail to win the Mineshaft by a head, he might have the speed to make the front if Jose Ortiz sends him from post 2.
Magnier, Tabor, Smith, and Westerberg also own Hall of Fame, who flamed off the Kentucky Derby trail last year but has gone 3 for 3 since trainer Steve Asmussen brought him back from a long layoff on Dec. 1.
“It’s a nice addition to his game,” Asmussen said of Hall of Fame’s willingness to settle behind rivals last month. “But he’s pretty handy and has run pretty fast on several occasions. He suits New Orleans.”
Komorebino Omoide ran just as well as Hall of Fame in the 1 1/16-mile Mineshaft and, racing with blinkers removed, could fall into a good stalking trip from an outside post. The 5-year-old son of California Chrome, however, lacks the upside of his 4-year-old foes and might not truly want to run this far.
San Siro, a 4-year-old on the upswing, stays the distance but makes his stakes debut after an impressive second-level allowance win here.
“I get the impression he’s moving up to where he can compete with these better horses,” said trainer Brendan Walsh.
On Nov. 9, San Siro finished fourth in a Churchill Downs allowance. A week earlier, Sierra Leone won the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The champion, even if rusty, probably proves too much for these.
– additional reporting by David Grening
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.