Blue Grass: Sierra Leone is 2-1 morning-line favorite

Sierra Leone is the 2-1 morning line favorite in a field of 11 3-year-olds entered Tuesday for Saturday’s 100th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass at Keeneland.

Contested at 1 1/8 miles over the main track, the Blue Grass is the 10th race on Saturday’s 11-race program with a 5:52 p.m. EDT post time.

Trained by two-time Blue Grass winner Chad Brown, Sierra Leone comes into Saturday’s race off a victory in the Risen Star (G2) run at 1 1/8 miles at Fair Grounds on Feb. 17. Sierra Leone has won two of three races and was second by a nose to Blue Grass rival Dornoch in the Remsen (G2).

Tyler Gaffalione has the mount on Sierra Leone and will exit post 10.

Brown’s Blue Grass winners are Good Magic in 2018 and Zandon in 2022. Good Magic is the sire of Dornoch.

Brown has two other entrants in the race: Good Money at 20-1 and Top Conor at 15-1.

Good Money has won one of two races and finished fourth in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) on March 9 in his most recent start. Javier Castellano, who won the 2019 Blue Grass on Vekoma, has the mount from post 5.

Top Conor has won his only race, going a mile at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 17. Top Conor will exit post 1 and be ridden by Jose Ortiz, who won the Blue Grass in 2018 on Good Magic.

Dornoch, a full brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby  winner Mage, is the second choice on the morning line at 3-1.

Trained by Danny Gargan, Dornoch enters Saturday’s race off a front-running victory in the Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream on March 2. Dornoch has won three consecutive races, starting with his initial victory at Keeneland last fall going 1 1/16 miles. His second victory came by a nose over Blue Grass rival Sierra Leone in the Remsen last December going 1 1/8 miles.

“That’s a good spot,” Gargan said. “He came out of the 3 hole in the Fountain of Youth and the Remsen. He will come out of there running and make his way through.”

Three-time Blue Grass-winning rider Luis Saez has the mount on Dornoch and will attempt to join six other riders to have won the race in consecutive years. Saez won aboard Tapit Trice in 2023, Essential Quality in 2021 and Brody’s Cause in 2016. Dornoch drew post position 4.

Third choice on the morning line at 7-2 is Just a Touch, who has won one of two races and comes into Saturday’s race off a runner-up effort in the Gotham (G3) at Aqueduct on March 2. Florent Geroux has the mount from post position 6.

Just a Touch is trained by Brad Cox, who won the Blue Grass in 2021 with Godolphin’s Essential Quality. Cox has another Godolphin runner this year in Encino (10-1). A winner of two of three races over the all-weather surface at Turfway Park this winter, Encino enters Saturday’s race off a victory in the John Battaglia Memorial on March 2. Flavien Prat, who won the 2022 Blue Grass on Zandon, has the mount Saturday from post position 11.

Be You, fourth choice on the morning line at 8-1, will attempt to give trainer Todd Pletcher back-to-back Blue Grass victories after Tapit Trice last year. Third in the American Pharoah (G1) and fourth in the Hopeful (G1) last year, Be You notched his first victory in six starts on March 2 at Gulfstream going seven furlongs.

Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount on Be You from post 2 for Pletcher, whose other Blue Grass winners were Bandini in 2005, Monba in 2008 and Carpe Diem in 2015.

“I’m happy with the post,” Pletcher said via text.

Two trainers will seek to add to their victory ledger in the Blue Grass. Two-time winner Kenny McPeek will saddle Lat Long, and two-time winner D. Wayne Lukas will send out Seize the Grey.

Lat Long, third in the Lecomte (G3) in his most recent start, will attempt to join Harlan’s Holiday in 2002 and Java’s War in 2013 as Blue Grass winners for McPeek. Brian Hernandez Jr., who won the 2020 Blue Grass aboard Art Collector, has the mount on Lat Long from post 7.

Lukas, who saddled War to victory in 1987 and High Yield in 2000, will be represented by Seize the Grey. Seize the Grey, who will be ridden by Nik Juarez and break from post 3, enters Saturday’s race off a third-place finish in Turfway’s Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) on March 23.

The Blue Grass offers 200 points on the road to the Kentucky Derby on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the first- through fifth-place finishers. The Kentucky Derby, to be run May 4 at Churchill Downs, is limited to the top 20 point earners and invitees.