By Alan Carasso
Eclipse Award-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) is recovering from an abscess on his coronet band, forcing Chad Brown to scrub a key workout, and the conditioner confirmed that the reigning GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner will be forced to skip the G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh on Feb. 22.
“I couldn't really work him, so I just kind of played it safe and skipped it, which takes him out of the Saudi race,” Brown told the TDN by phone early Wednesday afternoon. “It's not a big deal and I'm glad the abscess did come out in a clean fashion. It'll grow down and his foot will be fine. He just wasn't 100% to breeze, so I didn't want to push it.”
The $2.3-million topper from the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale was given some time off following his barnstorming victory at Del Mar on Nov. 2 and returned to the worktab with an easy three-eighths at Payson Park on Jan. 6. He had since drilled three consecutive Sundays at a half-mile, most recently covering that distance in :49.80 (19/72) on Jan. 26.
“You could tell it was bothering him and something was going to come out of there and it did,” said Brown. “It's resolved, but the timing wasn't good. He won't miss a whole lot of time, but I was on a very tight schedule given we gave him a month off after the Breeders' Cup. He was supposed to fly out in a week and it just wasn't going to work.”
Because Brown does not want to run Sierra Leone at a distance as far as a mile and a quarter in his first start at four, he also ruled out an appearance in the G1 Dubai World Cup on Apr. 5. Instead, Brown said that connections are considering launching the campaign in the nine-furlong GII Oaklawn Handicap on Apr. 19.
“We might just regroup into a race like the Oaklawn Handicap, it's a lot of money, we should be able to ship him there efficiently,” the conditioner said. “Right now that's probably the race that makes most sense.”
Looking farther down the road, Brown is looking forward to having one of the top horses in the handicap division for an otherwise full 4-year-old season and praised the ownership group for allowing the colt to train on.
“The horse developed into all aspects, physically, mentally, so I've just been looking to maintain that,” said Brown. “I am just relieved he looks like he's maintained his form. Outside of this minor issue, up until that point, the horse was moving as well as he did last year and he looked as well as he did last year physically.”
For a horse that has never finished outside the top three and has amassed earnings of just over $6 million, Sierra Leone took his fair share of criticism, particularly in the middle of the season last year. But Brown is pleased–less for himself than the horse–that the colt put it all together when it mattered most on the first Saturday of November.
“Yes, I felt very vindicated for the horse,” he said. “He was able to beat ['TDN Rising Star'] Fierceness (City of Light), who really took over as the leading 3-year-old over the summer with his impressive runs at Saratoga. This colt, widely regarded as the most talented colt of the crop, disappointed a bit after the Blue Grass after being at the top of the division and he arguably ran the best race in the Derby.
“For him to come up short in races like the Belmont and Travers, he did start to face some criticism and questioning, but overall he was able to redeem himself against older horses on a track that was favoring speed all weekend and over a track many of the horses hadn't run on before. I know he got a pace that favored him, but in fairness, he ran in some paceless races, too. I was very, very happy for the horse that he got the recognition he deserved and that it spilled over into an Eclipse Award, which he also deserved.”
Brown indicated Sierra Leone could return to the worktab as soon as this weekend, but given that the colt's season won't begin in earnest for two months, is not in any rush.
“I was very pleased with the way the horse looked today, I think we'll be fine,” he said.
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