“For him to redeem himself and close out the year as probably the best three-year-old in a very deep division, I couldn’t be more happy for this horse. He really deserves it,” said Chad Brown, Sierra Leone’s trainer, after the colt won the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Sierra Leone came from the middle of the pack to surge past the competition in the final stretch and win by 1½ lengths over the favorite, Fierceness. Ridden by Flavien Prat, the then 3-year-old colt completed the 1¼-mile race in 2:00.78. But now the time has come for him to rest.

Taking to X on October 8th, Coolmore America announced the retirement of Sierra Leone. The post read, “Sierra Leone To Retire To Coolmore America For 2026 🦁 Coolmore America are delighted to announce that Sierra Leone will take up stud duties in 2026 at its base in Ashford Stud in Kentucky following his final start in the Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup Classic.” The hero of the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic is going to stand at Ashford Stud in 2026 after his final performance in the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The event is scheduled for October 31st – November 1st and is to be held in Del Mar, California. The first day of November will be the last day for Sierra Leone on the racetrack. A son of Gun Runner produced from the Grade 1-winning Malibu Moon mare Heavenly Love, Sierra Leone will then become a stallion at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud.

“We’re incredibly excited to welcome Sierra Leone to Ashford for the coming season,” commented Ashford Stud’s Dermot Ryan. “When you hear someone like Chad Brown say that he is the best he has ever trained, it doesn’t get any better than that.” The hero of the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic was trained by Chad Brown, who said that he had trained a lot of horses, but he is the best he has had his hands on, and that “he’s just in a different league.” And no debates there; he has a great resume.

Sierra Leone: A horse in a different league

The 2025 Whitney Stakes has been different from day one. The colt was purchased for US $2,300,000 at the 2022 Saratoga Yearling Sale by Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm in partnership with M.V. Magnier and Brook Smith. After winning his first race at Aqueduct last November, he quickly earned the title of TDN Rising Star. Since then, he hasn’t looked back; racing only against top-level competition, he’s finished in the top three in all 13 of his starts, notched five impressive wins, and racked up over $7 million in earnings.

He has never run a poor race, finishing in the money in all 11 career starts. As a 3-year-old, his resume had recorded wins at the GII Risen Star Stakes and the GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. This was followed by a very close runner-up finish at the GI Kentucky Derby and a third-place finish in the GI Belmont Stakes. But it just didn’t end here; Sierra Leone recorded another runner-up finish in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes and was once again third, this time in the GI Travers Stakes.

Though he made sure that his championship season saw a great conclusion with a 1½-length triumph in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. He will look to do the same for his career as well. In 2025, Sierra Leone began his season with a third-place finish in the New Orleans Classic, followed by second-place efforts in the Stephen Foster Stakes and the Jockey Club Gold Cup, before shining brightest with a victory in the G1 Whitney Stakes, earning nearly $1 million along the way. Let’s hope he ends it all with a win on November 1st.