Sierra Leone Leads Brown’s Formidable “Louisiana Derby Day” Quartet
At 0h03, on March 20, 2025 • By Fair Grounds Racecourse
With four entered on Louisiana Derby Day, Chad Brown will look to continue the success he achieved last season at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, and in much the same fashion. Along with aiming for consecutive wins in the Muniz (G2) and Tom Benson, Brown is shipping last year’s Risen Star (G2) titleholder Sierra Leone back to New Orleans.
Made the 7-5 morning line favorite in the $500,000 New Orleans Classic presented by Relyne GI By Hagyard (G2), Sierra Leone will make his 4-year-old bow on the same track he kicked off his 3-year-old campaign, which concluded with a win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar and Champion 3-Year-Old Male honors.
“We chose this spot for a couple reasons,” Brown said. “The horse is ready to run now, so I didn’t want to wait another month and keep training him. Number two, he already has a win over the track. It all just made sense, so he’s ready to go.”
A formful cast of sharp older males have signed on to face Sierra Leona, who has not raced since early November. Five of his nine foes have both raced in 2025 and won their last outing. Though they may have recency on their side, each contender would need to take a significant step forward to match Sierra Leone’s late 3-year-old form.
“(Sierra Leone) is a very classy horse,” Brown said. “Very intelligent and just a real pleasure to be around. Overall he’s a very rare horse. Great mover on the track. Tons of ability. Very much a leader of the pack kind of horse. When you go to the track, everybody is going to fall behind him. He has a bit of an aura around him. I feel very fortunate that me and my team have this horse in our barn.”
In his final two preparations at Payson Park, Sierra Leone worked in company. On March 15, he was with Unmatched Wisdom; the week prior, with Spirit of St Louis. Known for producing a tremendous late run, in both works the 3-year-old champ was placed inside his stablemate, successfully fighting off their bids to get by and surging lengths clear in the later stages of the breeze.
“It’s not that I have been trying to use him as a lead horse necessarily,” Brown said. “The inside of the track at Payson is tighter. The two and three paths have been a little deeper. I prefer to have him on what I deem to be the slightly better part of the racetrack. The horses that are next to him are there to keep him interested, and we rotate every week who he works with.”
The New Orleans Classic is scheduled as race 9 on Saturday.
