Sierra Leone shortens to 6-1 in Kentucky Derby Future Wager
Sierra Leone did not just splash his way to an eye-catching victory in the dark of theNew Orleans night Saturday. He lit up the Kentucky Derby Future Wager thisweekend.
Afterhis deep-closing triumph in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds, theGun Runner colt owned primarily by Coolmore, trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione closed asthe 6-1 individual favorite in pool 3 of the KDFW, the pari-mutuel offering runby Churchill Downs.
Theonly option shorter was the all others, which comprised any 3-year-old otherthan the 39 individual choices offered in the nationwide pool. That mutuelfield closed at 5-1.
SierraLeone, who would be 3-for-3 if not for a nose loss in the Remsen (G2), was amongall other males who closed at 4-5 in pool 1 in early November. Then he was 36-1in pool 2 that wrapped up Thanksgiving weekend. His odds were 13-1 in pool 3last month.
Remsenwinner Dornoch, who was the fixed-odds favorite in Las Vegas before Saturday, closedas the 9-1 third choice in the KDFW. Champagne (G1) victor Timberlake, who wasentered for next weekend’s Rebel (G2) at Oaklawn, was next at 15-1. Locked, whomay face Dornoch on March 2 in the Fountain of Youth (G2), and Fierceness, thebeaten favorite in the Holy Bull (G3), were 16-1.
Total handle for this pool was $408,422, including $309,393 in the win bets and $99,029 in exactas wagers, according to a Churchill Downs news release Sunday night. That was a 20 percent increase from last year’s $340,880.
Through the first four pools, a total of $1,218,084 has been bet into the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, a 26 percent rise from last year.
Pool5 of the KDFW will be open March 15-17, the same dates as the only KentuckyOaks (G1) Future Wager. The final Derby pool will run April 4-6.
These werethe closing odds for pool 4 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager with payouts reported by Churchill Downs:
