Sierra Leone a Star On the Rise for Breeder Debby Oxley

Lexington-based breeder Debby Oxley has carefully curated the family behind Risen Star Stakes (G2) winner Sierra Leone  and will be looking toward the first Saturday in May with the Kentucky Derby (G1) hopeful. The pedigree goes back to the second dam, Darling My Darling, whom Oxley's husband, John, purchased for $300,000 during the 1998 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

A precocious daughter of Deputy Minister, Darling My Darling ran second in the 1999 editions of the Matron (G1) and Frizette Stakes (G1) prior to finishing fifth in that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). During her sophomore season, she ran third in Keeneland's Beaumont Stakes (G2) and earned her first stakes victory when she took the Raven Run that October. Trained by John Ward, Jr., Darling My Darling contested two more grade 1 handicaps at age 4, just missing the board in each, and added another stakes triumph before retiring with earnings of $352,359 in 13 efforts with a record of 5-2-1.

Darling My Darling went on to produce 14 foals, two of which were graded winning fillies; Forever Darling  (by Congrats ) captured the Santa Ynez Stakes (G2) for her connections, and Heavenly Love  (by Malibu Moon)—the dam of Sierra Leone—took the 2017 Alcibiades Stakes (G1) for the Oxleys and trainer Mark Casse.

The grade 1 winning mare retired with earnings of $346,200 from 10 starts with a record of 2-0-2, and has gone on to produce the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale-topper in Sierra Leone (by Gun Runner  ), who White Birch Farm and M.V. Magnier purchased for $2.3 million out of the Gainesway consignment. 

WATCH: $2.3 Million Gun Runner Colt Tops The Saratoga Sale

"He was the best yearling I saw all year, easy to like," Brian Graves, general manager of Gainesway, recalled. "Gun Runner was on the rise, getting grade 1 horses everywhere. The colt was the second foal out of a grade 1 winner at 2. The mare had a lot of speed and precocity, and the colt had an elite pedigree, everything you wanted to see in a horse. He was leggy, had a beautiful long neck, a sloping wither with a deep girth. He had seamless action and floated across the ground. He never quit; his last walk was as good as his first one."

READ: $2.3M Sale-Topping Gun Runner colt to Brant and Magnier 

Heavenly Love has produced a full sister to Sierra Leone for this year and has a Nyquist   yearling colt which agent Mike Ryan purchased for $250,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale last year.

Sierra Leone won at first asking Nov. 4 at Aqueduct Racetrack in a one-mile maiden race for the partnership of Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, Rocket Ship Racing, and Peter M. Brant. The Chad Brown-trained pupil then returned a month later to run second by a nose behind Dornoch —a full brother to Kentucky Derby victor Mage  —in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen Stakes (G2) on the same track.

Making his 3-year-old debut in the Feb. 17 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds, the son of Gun Runner was unhurried early on and uncorked his winning rally in the stretch, prevailing by a half-length over his competition in the 1 1/8-mile test. Saturday's victory on the sloppy track garnered the colt 50 points toward the Kentucky Derby. This year, the colt is campaigned by Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, Brook T. Smith, and Peter M. Brant. The $1 million Blue Grass Stakes (G1) April 6 at Keeneland has been targeted as Sierra Leone's final prep race before the Run for the Roses.

"We are thrilled with his victory and look forward to cheering him on in the Blue Grass Stakes," Debby Oxley said.

"It's really exciting when you see a horse that you liked like that, bred like that, who brought that kind of money turn out to be a good horse," Graves added. "He looks like he could be anything to me; he gallops up to the head of the stretch and then can come home fast; those types can win Derby."