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2024 Belmont Stakes Contenders: SIERRA LEONE

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2024 Belmont Stakes Contenders: SIERRA LEONE

The 156th Belmont Stakes (G1) is Saturday, June 8, at Saratoga Race Course. The 1 ¼-mile race, shortened from 1 ½ miles due to the change of venue as the Belmont Park rebuild continues, is the final leg of the Triple Crown. usracing.com is publishing profiles of the contenders.

This deep closer is two noses away from being 5-for-5, and Sierra Leone might end up as the best 3-year-old of 2024. A Belmont win would improve his resume considerably.

Sierra Leone cost himself the Kentucky Derby by veering inward three paths in deep stretch. If he hadn’t crossed over three lanes while bumping and bothering Forever Young, one of them surely would have caught upset winner Mystik Dan.

Sierra Leone (left) gets nosed out by Mystik Dan at the wire in the Kentucky Derby. Coady Photo

Sierra Leone will have new jockey Flavien Prat aboard for the Belmont Stakes

Veering left also cost standout Tyler Gaffalione the mount. Replacing him is Flavien Prat, a brilliant tactician who rarely makes mistakes. Trainer Chad Brown said, “Tyler worked out a very good trip … and I thought his decisions were good. I think not winning bothered Tyler even more than it bothered me.”

But …

“I’m moving forward with the change (to Prat), and we’ll see how it goes.”

Because of the configuration of Saratoga Race Course, whose circumference is 1 1/8 miles, the Belmont Stakes will be run at 1¼ miles instead of its usual 1½. Last-to-first runners usually are at a disadvantage going 12 furlongs at Belmont Park, a 1½-mile oval, so the changes should help Sierra Leone.

Brown is upbeat that Sierra Leone gives him a good chance for his first Belmont victory. He breezed 5 furlongs in 1:02.64 with stablemate Domestic Product May 25 over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track.

“I want to maintain where I’m at with Sierra Leone,” Brown said, “and I’m thrilled with how he’s moving.”

Betting advice: There should be enough pace to set up Sierra Leone’s big finish, and he belongs on all your tickets. Likely favorite is a serious win contender.

Post position: TBD

Odds: TBD

Jockey: Flavien Prat

Trainer: Chad Brown

Owners: Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook T. Smith

Career record: 5-3-2-0

Career earnings: $1,918,000

Most recent race: Kentucky Derby, May 4 (2nd)

Top Equibase speed figure: 109

Pedigree: Gun Runner-Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Deep closer

Notes: Gun Runner, a Hall of Famer and the 2017 Horse of the Year, is among the world’s leading dirt sires. His son Early Voting won the 2022 Preakness for Brown, and Sierra Leone could be Gun Runner’s first Belmont champion … Brown has been leading trainer at Saratoga six times, including last year, when he tied with Linda Rice. He grew up in Mechanicville, N.Y., only 16 miles south of Saratoga Springs.

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