10 Pedigree fun facts: Sierra Leone

Feb 27, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Sierra Leone first made headlines when commanding the top price of $2.3 million as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga. Now he’s making news as a leading Kentucky Derby (G1) contender.

As his auction price suggests, Sierra Leone boasts a terrific pedigree. Both of his parents were major winners themselves – Horse of the Year Gun Runner and Grade 1 queen Heavenly Love – and his maternal relatives include Japanese superstar Forever Young, who could clash with Sierra Leone at Churchill Downs.

Here are 10 pedigree fun facts on Sierra Leone:

1. Sierra Leone is bred on the same cross as Derby contender Locked.

Both Sierra Leone and Locked are by Gun Runner and out of mares by Malibu Moon, a blueblood son of A.P. Indy. Gun Runner’s pedigree and stellar race record and Malibu Moon’s history are recounted in Locked’s pedigree fun facts, so we’ll focus on their emerging cross here.

Gun Runner has sired two other graded stakes winners from Malibu Moon mares. Shotgun Hottie scored her signature win in last summer’s Molly Pitcher (G3) at Monmouth Park, while Runninsonofagun captured the 2022 Bold Ruler (G3).

If you expand the view to include A.P. Indy-line mares in general, you’ll find even more of Gun Runner’s high-profile winners. Multiple Grade 1 hero Taiba and 2024 Kentucky Oaks (G1) candidate Life Talk are cases in point.

Especially noteworthy is Gun Runner’s affinity for Tapit, as evidenced by last year’s Travers (G1) runner-up and Derby fourth Disarm; current Sunland Park Oaks scorer Recharge; Society; Red Route One and his full brother Red Run; Dreamlike, a full brother to Triple Crown nominee Dimatic; Il Miracolo; and Wicked Halo.

2. Sierra Leone is out of Alcibiades winner Heavenly Love.

Heavenly Love stamped herself as a top-class juvenile with her romp in the 2017 Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland. Stretching out from her six-furlong maiden score on the Kentucky Downs turf, Heavenly Love stalked the pace in her stakes debut and powered 5 1/2 lengths clear.

The Alcibiades turned out to be her peak, though. Instead of progressing on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, Heavenly Love was unplaced in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Silverbulletday S., and Rachel Alexandra (G2) (behind future Oaks victress and two-time Breeders’ Cup champion Monomoy Girl). Reverting to turf helped Heavenly Love garner one more graded placing, via a third in the 2018 Regret (G3), but her form declined in her final couple of starts.

3. Japan’s Forever Young is out of a half-sister to Heavenly Love.

Heavenly Love is a half-sister to Forever Darling, the winner of the 2016 Santa Ynez (G2), and now famous for producing Forever Young. Like Heavenly Love, Forever Darling is by a son of A.P. Indy, Congrats.

Darling’s Darling is another of their half-sisters bred along a similar pattern. By A.P. Indy’s champion son Bernardini, Darling’s Darling is the dam (mother) of Northern Flame, on the Derby trail himself as the Rebel (G2) third.

4. Heavenly Love’s mother is Grade 1 performer Darling My Darling.

Heavenly Love, Forever Darling, and Darling’s Darling are all out of multiple Grade 1-placed stakes heroine Darling My Darling.

A talented racer as well as a successful broodmare for Debby Oxley, Darling My Darling dominated her career debut at Saratoga in 1999, placed second in the Matron (G1), and missed by a head to Surfside in the Frizette (G1). After a fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, she focused on her one-turn specialty at three.

Darling My Darling was an arguably unlucky third in the 2000 Beaumont (G2), where she got off to a slow start and closed fast. She would return to Keeneland that fall to earn her first stakes laurel in the Raven Run S., beating Surfside. Darling My Darling reiterated her fondness for the Lexington oval in the spring of 2021, stepping up to 1 1/16 miles to win the Doubledogdare S.

5. Darling My Darling is by renowned sire Deputy Minister.

Deputy Minister, by Northern Dancer’s son Vice Regent, was honored as Canada’s Horse of the Year for his exploits as a juvenile in 1981. He compiled an 8-for-9 mark that season, including top-level U.S. scores in the Laurel Futurity (G1) and Young America (G1). After an injury-blighted 1982 campaign, Deputy Minister added three more stakes victories to his resume in 1983, chief among them the Donn H. (G2).

Enshrined in the Canadian Hall of Fame, Deputy Minister has become an exceptional influence at stud. His Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1)-winning son Awesome Again sired U.S. Hall of Famer Ghostzapper. Deputy Minister himself sired two inductees in Saratoga Springs, his fillies Go for Wand and Open Mind.

His daughters are often outstanding producers. Deputy Minister mares are responsible for such celebrities as Curlin and Rags to Riches, and they also factor in the maternal ancestry of Hall of Famers Arrogate and Songbird – to mention just a few.

6. Darling My Darling is out of Grade 1-winning sprinter Roamin Rachel.

Darling My Darling’s mother, Roamin Rachel, scored her biggest victory in the 1994 Ballerina H. (G1) at Saratoga. An ultra-consistent sprinter who won or placed in 14 of 15 starts, Roamin Rachel also landed graded stakes trophies in the Beaumont and the Brown & Williamson H. (G3) (which now has Grade 1 status as the Derby City Distaff).

Roamin Rachel garnered minor awards in both of her attempts at 1 1/16 miles, notably in the 1993 Ashland (G1), where she tired to third as the 4-5 favorite.

7. Roamin Rachel also produced Japanese Horse of the Year Zenno Rob Roy.

Roamin Rachel was eventually exported to Japan, where she produced Horse of the Year Zenno Rob Roy (by Sunday Silence). Zenno Rob Roy completed a prestigious hat trick in the 2004 Japan Cup (G1), Tenno Sho Autumn, and Arima Kinen, the latter in record time at Nakayama.

In 2005, Zenno Rob Roy took his game abroad to England for the Juddmonte International (G1) at York. He missed by a neck to Electrocutionist, who would go on to win the following year’s Dubai World Cup (G1).

8. Roamin Rachel’s sire Mining lost his perfect record in the Breeders’ Cup.

Roamin Rachel is arguably the best runner sired by Mining, a well-bred son of Mr. Prospector. The Ogden Mills Phipps homebred won his first six career starts, capped by the 1988 Vosburgh (G1) over Gulch. That made Mining the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), but he retreated to 10th in the Churchill Downs slop behind the triumphant Gulch.

Mining appears as the maternal grandfather of Canadian champion Edenwold, who captured the 2006 Queen’s Plate, and Real Cozzy, the 2001 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) winner and runner-up in the Kentucky Oaks.

9. Breeders’ Cup champion Indian Blessing hails from the same family.

Roamin Rachel comes from the same female line as two-time Eclipse Award winner Indian Blessing. Confirming herself the best of her generation at two in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Indian Blessing found her niche sprinting at three and four. Her marquee wins in that division include the 2008 Test (G1), La Brea (G1), and Prioress (G1), along with back-to-back scores in the Gallant Bloom H. (G2). Indian Blessing was also runner-up versus males in the 2009 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1).

In recent years, this maternal line has furnished another quality sprinter in Frank’s Rockette, a 10-time stakes winner who placed in another 15 black-type events.

10. Alan-a-Dale, the 1902 Derby hero, makes an appearance.

Following the matrilineal ancestry far back into the early 20th century, you’ll discover a Kentucky Derby winner who rarely turns up in pedigrees. Alan-a-Dale faded into obscurity as a stallion, but his daughter Alanarka appears as a remote ancestress of Sierra Leone. She’s his 11th dam in the sequence (beginning with Heavenly Love as the first, Darling My Darling as the second, and so on).

Alan-a-Dale’s claim to fame is winning the 1902 Kentucky Derby, under a front-running ride by the legendary Jimmy Winkfield. Despite going lame down the stretch, Alan-a-Dale “carried on with flawless courage to win by a nose,” the chart reports. The Derby was his only start at three, but he revived his racing career for three more seasons.