Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone catapulted himself back up the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary Global Rankings with his third G1 score in the Whitney at Saratoga on Saturday [August 2].
Old rival Fierceness was sent off 6-05 favorite for the historic $1 million contest but he weakened after leading into the final furlong as Sierra Leone (#6 from #32, +250pt) appeared with his customary late run.
With a third top-level score now on the colt’s perfect in-the-money resume, Brown said he has no qualms about bringing Sierra Leone back in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on August 31 here as a springboard to the Classic.
He turned back a determined bid from Godolphin’s Highland Falls to record a one-length success – his first since last year’s Breeders’ Cup triumph over Fierceness at Del Mar.
Carrying the Coolmore silks, Sierra Leone had been beaten on his first two starts of 2025 – hence a sizeable tumble down the TRC lists.
Now, though, he has asserted his claims to being the best older horse in the country. His trainer Chad Brown (#2 from #3, +37pt) certainly ranks among his biggest fans.
“I’ve trained a lot of great horses, and to me, I’d say unequivocally he’s the best horse I’ve had my hands on,” Brown said. “I’ve had great horses on both surfaces and a lot of champions, but he’s just in a different league.”
The Jockey Club Gold Cup at the same venue on August 31 is a likely target for Sierra Leone ahead of his title defence at the Breeders’ Cup, for which he is 5-1 in European lists, where Sovereignty is current 2-1 favourite.
Six-time graded-stakes winner Deterministic (#24 from #58, +113pt) has now won five of his last seven – the other two were seconds – yet still doesn’t seem to get the credit he deserves as one of the top turf performers in the US.
The four-year-old did it again with a decisive victory under Kendrick Carmouche (#102 from #137, +32pt) in the G1 Fourstardave for trainer Miguel ‘Miggy’ Clement (#180 from #238, +40pt), whose late father Christophe still sits at #39 in the rankings.
“This is great,” said Clement. “It is very rewarding. He was my first Grade 1 winner. He has tactical speed so you can use it and the horse delivered.
“He is a top-class horse. He’s won on multiple surfaces over a wide range of distances. He makes us look good because he is top-class.”
All roads now lead to the Breeders’ Cup, via another G1 assignment in either the Woodbine Mile [Sept 13] or Coolmore Turf Mile [Oct 4] at Keeneland.
In Europe, last week’s most notable mover was Fallen Angel (#47 from #352, +325pt), who scored for the first time in more than 14 months with a narrow victory in the G1 Prix Rothschild as the summer season got underway at that French posh poseurs’ pricey playground, Deauville.
Having not won a race of any kind since her Irish 1,000 Guineas success in May 2024, the four-year-old returned to her best over the straight mile – good ground helped, since she has generally been operating on surfaces faster than ideal.
Also worth noting: another little sneak up the owners’ rankings for Wathnan Racing (#16 from #18, +26pt). A growing force, indeed.
Last week’s showpiece meeting in Britain, of course, was the five-day Qatar Goodwood Festival – better known colloquially as ‘Glorious Goodwood’, although the torrential rain that hit the venue midweek rendered the whole thing rather less than glorious.
Without wishing to be rude, the same could perhaps be said for the Sussex Stakes, the £1m centrepiece of the entire week, which produced one of the biggest shocks in racing history as 150-1 shot Qirat (enters charts at #131) – supplemented as a pacemaker for Juddmonte star Field Of Gold – held off top-class milers who had given him too much rope up front.
All in all, this was an unsatisfactory race, as the winner had finished 27th out of 30 in the Royal Hunt Cup (a handicap at Royal Ascot) on his previous start.
Sure, Qirat likes Goodwood but it would have taken some unnatural powers of clairvoyance to foresee this outcome. Anyway, Qirat held off Rosallion (#53 from #95, +103pt) by a neck – the runner-up’s jockey Sean Levey admitted culpability, but he was far from alone is sitting too far back. Odds-on favourite Field Of Gold (#11 from #7, -92pt) finished lame.
“He did his job – we set out to go 12-second furlongs and he did that,” said winning trainer Ralph Beckett. “He was working so well and he loves this place. Richard [Kingscote] has always been a tremendous judge of the clock.”
The Arc-winning trainer added: “He’s a Goodwood specialist. I’m absolutely thrilled to bits. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for Field Of Gold but it’s a horse race and anything can happen.”
You can say that again.
In contrast, the other two G1 events at Goodwood resulted in more predictable outcomes with world #1 trainer Aidan O’Brien – 251 weeks at the summit now altogether – claiming both.
Leading St Leger contender Scandinavia (#42 from #198, +42pt) outbattled year-older stablemate Illinois to win the Goodwood Cup, while top filly Whirl (#20 from #66, +144pt) drew away for a five-length victory in the Nassau.
Mind you, as good as the winner is, this wasn’t an entirely satisfactory race, either. The ground went heavy after all the rain, and moreover there was a rare flag start for a G1 event as the stalls were out of bounds amid potential thunderstorms.
“None of us fancied sitting in a giant toaster while lightning was flashing,” suggested leading rider Tom Marquand, who was riding in other races on the card. Half the field duly missed the break.
Be that as it may, Whirl’s fondness for give in the ground would make her a legitimate contender in an open-looking Arc. She is 8-1 second favourite in ante-post lists behind King George runner-up Kalpana.
• View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires
‘Everybody’s expectations are high’ – Sovereignty rules at Saratoga to enter world Top 5
Haskell hero Journalism finally gets ahead of Sovereignty – for now, at least
Appleby and Buick dominant as Cinderella goes to the July ball at Newmarket
Delacroix redeems himself under ‘masterful ride’ from Ryan Moore
• Unlike traditional methods of racehorse rankings, TRC Global Rankings are a measure of an individual’s level of achievement over a rolling three-year period, providing a principled hierarchy of the leading horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and sires using statistical learning techniques. Racehorse rankings can be compared to similar exercises in other sports, like the golf’s world rankings or the ATP rankings in tennis.
They are formulated from the last three years of races we consider Group or Graded class all over the world and update automatically each week according to the quality of a horse’s performances and their recency, taking into account how races work out.