Trainer Chad Brown has taken extra time the past couple days to ensure that Kentucky Derby contender Sierra Leone won't have issues at the starting gate next Saturday.
Though the 3-year-old son of Gun Runner won the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in early April, he delayed the start by several minutes when he refused to load into the starting gate. Brown blamed that behavior on the crowd at Keeneland and being drawn in the far outside stall in that field.
The special 20-stall starting gate for the Kentucky Derby has been measured to be slightly narrower than a standard American gate, so the trainer has ensured that Sierra Leone has plenty of time to get comfortable with the gate at Churchill Downs.
"Sierra Leone has visited the gate at Churchill the last two days, and starter Scott Jordan, who I know very well, worked with him quite a bit the first day," Brown said during Thursday's NTRA national media teleconference. "By the end of the session he was very pleased with him, so I brought him right back again this morning and just walked him in and out a few times."
The schooling occurred in the small chute near the top of the stretch, and while the morning experience can't emulate the noise of the crowd on the first Saturday in May, it is at least in the same general location on the racetrack.
"He’s a pretty smart horse, so if he breaks okay from the gate, I think he’s going to find himself in a pretty good position in the second flight of this field," said Brown. "He’s got a magnificent, efficient stride, where he can get over a lot of ground quickly once he gets going, and he does handle the turns well."
Brown is certainly looking forward to saddling Sierra Leone in the Run for the Roses, bringing into the race wins in two of the tougher prep races on this year's schedule: the G2 Risen Star at the Fair Grounds and the G1 Blue Grass.
"I think they were certainly two of the stronger preps with very deep fields," Brown said. "There was a lot of traffic to overcome, and a lot of quality horses in there. The speed figures look strong, too, particularly with the top several horses in there."
Overall, Sierra Leone has won three of his four lifetime starts, beaten only by Dornoch in the G2 Remsen Stakes last fall. He defeated that rival in the Blue Grass, however, and enters the Kentucky Derby as one of the top choices under jockey Tyler Gaffalione.
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