Sierra Leone fends off Highland Falls to win thrilling Whitney

Sierra Leone, the champion 3-year-old male of 2024 who had gone winless in three previous tries at Saratoga, broke through in dramatic worst-to-first fashion Saturday by powering past favored Fierceness in mid-stretch and turning back a determined bid from Highland Falls through the lane for a one-length victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes.

The 98th running of the 1 1/8-mile race for older horses earned Sierra Leone a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, which is where he won that $7 million race last year.

Click here for Saratoga entries and results.

It was a rematch of last year’s Classic, where Sierra Leone came from far back to defeat Fierceness and clinch championship honors after finishing behind his rival in the Jim Dandy (G2) and Travers (G1) at Saratoga. The Whitney gave jockey Flavien Prat his fourth win of the day and five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, a native of nearby Mechanicville, N.Y., his third. Brown added a fourth winner with Peak Hype in the finale.

“He’s always been running in the highest level of races at Saratoga. He ran in the Travers, Belmont Stakes and such,” Brown said. “The more I looked at his numbers, I wasn’t sold that he doesn’t really like the track. I just think he hadn’t won, and some of his fastest numbers as a 3-year-old were actually at Saratoga. He just didn’t get it done. As you saw in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and today, he’s a full-rounded, fully polished, fine-tuned, high-level racehorse right now.

“Growing up around here, the Whitney and the Travers is what the whole race meet has been built around since its early days. So for me to finally get one of them with my mom and dad here, my brother, both of my daughters, made memories to last forever. This is a really hard race to win, and you’ve got to have the right horse.”

Sierra Leone was unhurried in the early going, breaking last and trailing the field as Brant-owned stablemate Contrary Thinking, sent off at 70-1, outran fellow long shot Mama’s Gold through an opening quarter-mile in 23.82 seconds. There was a long gap back to Fierceness, settled in third along the rail under Hall of Famer John Velázquez, with Highland Falls and then 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner White Abarrio, the 2023 Whitney winner, sparring for fourth.

Mama’s Gold eased past tiring Contrary Thinking after a half-mile in 47.07 seconds as the trailing group began to close the gap. Sierra Leone had yet to move up from last as he followed millionaire Post Time, who ran third in last year’s Whitney. Skippylongstocking, fifth in last year’s race after prompting the pace, made a bold move along the rail to get into contention and wrest the lead from Mama’s Gold following six furlongs in 1:11.59. Fierceness was right in behind, and Highland Falls was a looming threat.

After waiting patiently, Sierra Leone got his cue and began winding his way through horses before finding a clear path on the far outside straightening for home with Highland Falls to his inside. They ranged up on Fierceness, who had forged a short lead nearing the eighth pole. They moved past and hooked up in the final sixteenth of a mile before Sierra Leone edged clear to win with a time of 1:48.92 over the fast main track.

“I was happy with his position. He was quite far back, and I knew when those horses were stopping out in the center of the track that he was going to have to go inside horses and catch a lot of dirt,” Brown said. “What we know about the horse now is that he’s a long, outside-run horse like he did in the Breeders’ Cup and in the (2024 Kentucky) Derby and nearly won. So for him to cut the corner and catch a lot of dirt, which isn’t his preferred way to pass horses, making up considerable ground to then get out with blinkers full of mud and get there was a really remarkable run by him. A lot of heart.”

Sent off as the second choice at 9-5 behind Fierceness, Sierra Leone returned $5.90 on a $2 win bet.

Prat said he was pleased with Sierra Leone’s early position.

“Even if I’m in the back, at least he broke running,” Prat said. “I was traveling well all the way around. I didn’t know when I hit the three-eighths pole if I had a ton of horse. When I asked him, I cut the corner, he came underneath me nicely, and when I tipped him out, he made a very good run. I think he has improved. I think he has improved from last year. I do think last race was basically his first race of the season. We ran into a slow pace on a fast track, so I had expectations of improvement.”

Disarm made a late run to be third, one length ahead of White Abarrio, with Fierceness another 1 3/4 lengths back in fifth. Post Time, Skippylongstocking, Mama’s Gold and Contrary Thinking completed the order of finish. Fierceness’s multiple Grade 1-winning stablemate Mindframe was scratched to await the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) on Aug. 31 at Saratoga.

Brad Cox was pleased with the effort from runner-up Highland Falls, who was making just his second start of the year since finishing ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. In his only previous start at Saratoga, Highland Falls won last summer’s Jockey Club Gold Cup.

“He ran good and he was up there with Fierceness going up the backside. Obviously, their (connections of Sierra Leone) game plan of putting pace into the race worked out today. This is our horse’s second run off the layoff, and I think as long as he comes out of it in good order, he could move forward again. I think he’s moved forward as a 5-year-old just based off the way he’s trained and the two races he’s run. He obviously likes Saratoga, so we’ll regroup. I think it’s safe to say if all is well, we’ll probably look at the Jockey Club.”

Brown hinted he may bring Sierra Leone back in the 1 1/4-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup, also a win-and-you’re-in for the Breeders' Cup Classic with an eye on a repeat in that race.

“I would (consider the Jockey Club Gold Cup), because he hasn’t run that much this year,” he said. “Last year I had handicapped the Travers until the Classic barely as the absolute maximum layoff for me, and he was able to pull it off. This is a little further away now, so I’m not sure I want that many weeks between races with a horse who has only run three times. I’m not afraid to run this horse. I’m not afraid of running again, because if he comes out of it sound, I have a lot of time from the Jockey Club Gold Cup.”

Bred in Kentucky by Debby Oxley and owned by Peter Brant; the Coolmore group of Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith; Westerberg; and Brook Smith, Sierra Leone fetched $2.3 million at Fasig-Tipton’s 2022 Saratoga select yearling sale. He raced twice at age 2, winning his debut and running second to subsequent Belmont Stakes and Haskell (G1) winner Dornoch in the Remsen (G2).

Sierra Leone was third or better in all seven of his starts at 3, including Grade 1 wins in the Classic and Blue Grass, and was beaten by a nose when he was second to Mystik Dan in the Kentucky Derby. Third to Dornoch in the Belmont, contested for the first time at Saratoga, he returned to run second in the Jim Dandy and third in the Travers, both times as the favorite.

Brown trained Sierra Leone up to the Classic, and he responded with a 1 1/2-length upset of Fierceness to seal the Eclipse Award. He had raced twice this year before the Whitney, finishing third in the New Orleans Classic (G2) and second in the Stephen Foster (G1).

“In fairness to Chad, he’s always had a plan, and he’s kept to that plan. It’s worked out so far. It’s great,” said M.V. Magnier of co-owner Coolmore. “Flavien said at the eighth pole. He was going like that (twitching ears), and he was just cruising. I’d say he’s a very special horse. We’re on to Del Mar now.

“It’s incredible what he did last year in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. It was an astonishing run, really. He’s a very good racehorse, and to do it again here today being in Saratoga, we thought he didn’t handle the track here last year, and he’s matured. He’s a very good horse. We’re blessed to be here and it’s exciting. We just look forward to the Breeders’ Cup.”