After a series of placings in the nation’s top three-year-old stakes, Sierra Leone delivered in a big way Nov. 2. He posted a 1 ½-length victory over fellow sophomores and older horses in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar, earning $3.64 million in the process. For co-owner Brook Smith, the Classic win was almost indescribable.
At the 2022 New York Saratoga Select Yearling sale, Sierra Leone sold for $2.3 million to White Birch Farm and M.V. Magnier. Graded-placed at two, he hit the Triple Crown trail this year, registering wins in the Feb. 17 Risen Star Stakes (G2) and April 6 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1), eventually finishing second by a nose in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). He hit the board in his next three starts—all grade 1 contests—then rounded out the year with his Breeders’ Cup triumph.
An Oldham County, KY. native, Smith races horses in his own name as well as under the nom de race Rocket Ship Racing. A businessman and philanthropist, he gives 10% of his horses’ earnings to Purses for a Purpose, which benefits the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs. “And in Sierra Leone’s case, my percentage of Sierra Leone will end up probably almost creating a six-figure contribution to the backside, which is amazing,” he shared.
Smith has a 16% stake in the Gun Runner colt. He explained, “Well, to be connected, as an owner, of a horse like Sierra Leone is kind of hard to process, I’ve had horses that won some stakes races and different things like that, but when Coolmore invited me to join them in the purchase of a couple high-end yearlings—there’s a lot of people that spend a lot of money on seven figures on horses all the time, and to have one that’s worked out like this, it’s just the needle in the haystack or the lottery ticket. I don’t know how you characterize it.” Sierra Leone is co-owned by Smith, Peter M. Brant, and Westerberg, as well as Coolmore stud partners Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith.
Smith said of Sierra Leone, “He’s an interesting horse. He doesn’t really like people to be up in his space—not mean, but he’s just kind of like, why are you here? And he sleeps a lot, but this time at the Breeders’ Cup, he just seemed like he was more on point, more into himself.” He added that “beyond all the math and the numbers and the odds, we felt like this was his race and it worked out like a storybook,” Smith noted. “He had the perfect pace for his running style, and he took advantage of it, and not only that, but he also showed that he can run straight and he can, you know, at the end, make those last big jumps to win a race.”
Smith credited the other talented horses in the race, such as runner-up Fierceness and third-place finisher Forever Young. He said, “When he came up next to Fierceness, you know, Fierceness wasn’t having it; he dug in and I felt like, ‘Oh, here we go—please, not another second.’ But when he won, it was like a collective relief for all of us. We were packed in a box kind near the finish line, and we just lost it. We were so excited.”
Luckily for racing fans, Sierra Leone is scheduled to keep racing in 2025. “He’s just doing so well, and it just wouldn’t even be fair to him not to,” Smith said. “Obviously, there’s risk in any kind of race, and if you start thinking about some of the races that are over in the Middle East, that’s a big commitment. And history says that horses that go over there, I mean it takes something out of them, but if we were, we’re thinking again; it’s still all up in the air. We’ll get him back into training after he’s had a month off.” Next, he will be shipped to Payson Park in Florida. “And if he tells us that he’s feeling good and he is ready to go, then it could be the Middle East, could be the Saudi Cup [G1], probably. But then at the same time, we may be patient and just keep him in the U.S. and there’s plenty of exciting kind of grade 1 races that would suit him. And wherever he goes next, he’d probably be the favorite.”
