Breeders’ Cup Classic Winner Sierra Leone Gearing Up for Saudi Cup

[Wandering Eyes]

Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) worked four furlongs in :50.60 (40/53) for trainer Chad Brown at Payson Park Jan. 12, his second workout of the year. He is being aimed at the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup Feb. 22, according to a report in Daily Racing Form.

“He's coming along,” Brown told DRF. “We're trying to get him to the Saudi race. He'll pick it up a little more next week. He's had two works now, he's ready to do something a little more serious next week.”

An Eclipse Award finalist in the 3-year-old male division, Sierra Leone's sophomore season also included wins in the GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes and GII Risen Star Stakes; a painful second in the GI Kentucky Derby; and third-place finishes in the GI Belmont Stakes and GI Draftkings Travers Stakes.

The $2.3-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling is campaigned in partnership by Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook T. Smith.

'TDN Rising Star' Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie), meanwhile, exited his sixth-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, his first career defeat, with “a tiny flake in his ankle,” per DRF. The Flanagan Racing colorbearer began his career with three straight victories, including the GI Hopeful Stakes and GI Champagne Stakes.

“We decided to take it out after the Breeders' Cup and gamble we could still make the Triple Crown,” Brown told DRF. “Although it wasn't bad, it looked new out of the Breeders' Cup. I didn't want to have to deal with it in the summer time in case it did bother him so we took it out.”

Brown added that Chancer McPatrick could return to the worktab by the end of the month and potentially target the GIII Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 8.

The post Breeders’ Cup Classic Winner Sierra Leone Gearing Up for Saudi Cup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article