Sierra Leone makes 4-year-old debut in New Orleans Classic

Eclipse Award winner Sierra Leone returns to Fair Grounds to make his 4-year-old bow, leading a field of 10 on Saturday for the 100th running of the Grade 2, $500,000 New Orleans Classic.

Going 1 1/8 miles on the main track, the New Orleans Classic is the fourth and final stakes of a series written for older horses. It also is the first leg of an all-graded-stakes Pick 4 that concludes with the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2).

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The New Orleans Classic is slated as race 9 at 5:04 p.m. EDT with the first post at 1 p.m.

Tabbed as the 7-5 morning-line favorite, Sierra Leone’s top accomplishment on his way to being named the 2024 champion 3-year-old male came when the Chad Brown trainee won the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar. His sophomore campaign began at Fair Grounds with a score in the Risen Star (G2).

Owned by Peter Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith, the son of Gun Runner went on to score in the Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland ahead of his second-place run in Kentucky Derby 2024.

Never out of the money in eight graded stakes, Sierra Leone’s bankroll has towered to $6,008,000. He will be guided from post 7 by 2024 champion jockey Flavien Prat.

Beyond the deserving favorite, there’s no lack of New Orleans Classic title contenders. Mineshaft (G3) winner Hall of Fame is top among them. Like Sierra Leone, Hall of Fame is a 4-year-old colt by Gun Runner, and he has a similar group of owners in Magnier, Tabor, Smith, Westerberg, Gandharvi and Smith. Unlike Sierra Leone, the Steve Asmussen trainee has recency. Following his lackluster performances on the Derby trail, connections decided to regroup with the $1.4 million purchase, and Hall of Fame proved unbeatable in three starts since his Dec. 1 comeback. Meet-leading rider Jose Ortiz returns to the irons of the 4-1 morning-line second choice who drew post 2.

Set-Hut’s Touchuponastar returns in the New Orleans Classic after setting a blistering pace and valiantly digging in to finish second in 2024 to Asmussen’s late-kicker Red Route One. Winning his third consecutive Louisiana-Bred Premier Night Championship Stakes at Delta Downs last out, Touchuponastar has $1,112,900. With multiple graded-stakes placings, the Jeff Delhomme trainee has proven himself time and again against open company. At age 6 he has not lost a step, having just paired 101 Brisnet Speed Ratings in his last two stakes wins, just shy of his 104 career-best earned when trouncing Tumbarumba in the 2023 Louisiana Champions Day Classic ahead of being named the 2023 Louisiana-bred horse of the year. With Tim Thornton in the saddle, Touchuponastar will break from post 5.

Brad Cox-trained stablemates bookend the field. General MacArthur winner Kinetic drew the rail, and the multiple graded-stakes-placed Bishops Bay got post 10.