Flatter: What racing needs is a good Kentucky Derby duel

What horse racing really needs right now is _____.

That looks like the kind of fill-in-the-blank that is chum to social-media sharks.

Anyone wanting to rally the public in a populist way would respond with the term national commissioner. Oh, wait. Mike Repole has that gig now.

Someone more pragmatic would fill in the phrase uniform national rules. But that concept is being addressed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. Ah, your government at work.

There is the Pavlovian response of lower takeout and less computer wagering. That is a wonderfully idealistic idea, except there are not enough horseplayers left to make up the lost dollars that pay for all the jobs behind the scenes.

For a couple generations we heard racing needed a Triple Crown winner. Then American Pharoah finally came along to rally the troops, raise the profile and pump up the ratings. But that momentum did not even last the rest of that year.

We are, however, on the verge of something that could be special. When was the last time we went into a Kentucky Derby with exactly two horses who stood out above all the other 3-year-olds? Maybe in 2007 with Street Sense and Curlin. That turned out to be a hell of a year for the classics.

Maybe what horse racing needs is a home-grown, old-school rivalry, the kind that Fierceness and Sierra Leone could provide.

Think about it. Two horses who have been eye-catching this winter and spring. They have diametrically opposite running styles. They have high-profile trainers and jockeys and sets of owners. And right now they are the only two horses whose odds are in single digits with every Las Vegas shop booking Kentucky Derby futures.

Of course it is way too soon to suggest we have Affirmed and Alydar here, and there will be more than a few of us looking for value horses to beat both of them. But for a sport in desperate need of some mainstream love, and since I do not see Taylor Swift and Caitlin Clark on the VIP list, why not pump up the volume on Fierceness vs. Sierra Leone?

Allow me to answer the critical questions that are bound to come up.

First, what guarantee is there that Fierceness can put together two good races in a row let alone another 13 1/2-length victory in a Grade 1? And how can we be certain one of Sierra Leone’s hissy fits at the gate will not cook him before he can rally from out of the clouds against 19 rivals? Well, we cannot be sure. I think that is why they call it gambling.

Second, their running styles. If Fierceness is not on the early lead, and Sierra Leone is caught in a crowd of stragglers on the Churchill Downs backstretch, couldn’t they get caught in the unique traffic of the big Derby field? Of course they could. That would make their emergence at the top of the stretch all the more attractive.

Next, those high-profile trainers. Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown are not going to be doing 10 tight minutes anytime soon at Laugh Louisville. But that is the way of the sporting world in the 21st century. Compared with the likes of Bill Belichick and Greg Popovich, Pletcher and Brown look like Kevin Hart and Amy Schumer.

The jockeys should not evoke any concerns. There may be no one better with an early lead than John Velázquez, and there may be no rider better under the age of 30 than Tyler Gaffalione. They also happen to be among the sport’s most charismatic ambassadors.

The owners are the easy part. Repole has Fierceness, so there is no problem getting him to put media spotlight into his Waze app. Peter Brant, who leads the Sierra Leone partners, shuns attention, but his wife Stephanie Seymour knows how to handle it. Besides, Brant also has the Coolmore lads who can bring a story or two from Ireland.

Finally, will Fierceness and Sierra Leone really be the only two horses standing a cut above on the toteboard before the Derby? That might depend on how much influence comes from the 24th annual conclave of the International Brotherhood of the UAE Derby. God bless Forever Young, but the shortest distance from Japan to the Churchill Downs winner’s circle would be the 6,600 miles directly across the Pacific, not a detour through the Middle East that doubles the distance and the burden.

I am not ignoring the big elephant that is not in the room, namely Muth. Even if he and Bob Baffert were to win a long-shot court order to get them into the Derby, they have not made imprints on us this year the way Fierceness and Sierra Leone have. If Muth should crash the party, it would make for a much more credible classic. That does not necessarily mean it will be a better rivalry. As a commenter recently pointed out, Fierceness did beat Muth by 6 1/4 lengths last year in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

So bring on Fierceness vs. Sierra Leone. One named for an attitude. The other for a tropical country in West Africa. And for the sake of the sport, may they be a nose apart in all the classics.

For the sake of my wallet, though, maybe we should keep both of them behind a long shot soon to be determined.

Ron Flatter’s column appears Friday mornings at Horse Racing Nation. Comments below are welcomed, encouraged and may be used in the feedback segment of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod, which also is posted every Friday.