Kentucky Derby Alumni Update: Fierceness and Sierra Leone in the Whitney Stakes

Aug 01, 2025 Sara Dacus/TwinSpires.com

Sierra Leone wins the Blue Grass S. (G1) at Keeneland (Photo by Coady Media / Credit to John Gallagher)

The Whitney S. (G1) is loaded with Kentucky Derby alumni and the very best horses from the handicap division. The stacked Saratoga Saturday feature is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) and includes a powerhouse field of eight millionaires.

They are led by champions Fierceness and Sierra Leone, who were the top two betting choices in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. While Sierra Leone finished second that day, Fierceness disappointed as the favorite. The latter rebounded in style, subsequently winning Saratoga’s Jim Dandy S. (G2) and Travers S. (G1) before finishing second to Sierra Leone in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Fierceness opened his 2025 campaign with a track-record win in the Alysheba S. (G2) on Kentucky Oaks day and was most recently second in the Met Mile (G1).

His stablemate Mindframe enters as the division’s rising star. Undefeated in three 2025 starts, the colt captured the Gulfstream Park Mile S. (G2), Churchill Downs S. (G1), and most recently edged Sierra Leone in the Stephen Foster S. (G1). However, trainer Todd Pletcher indicated Mindframe may scratch if Fierceness remains on target for the race. Repole Stable owns both horses.

Pletcher has won the Whitney four times, most recently with Life Is Good in 2022.

“I think it has established itself as sort of the marquee older horse race in the country next to the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” he said.

White Abarrio, with four Grade 1 wins, tops the field in earnings with over $7 million. The 2022 Derby alum started the year with an impressive 6 1/4 length victory in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1). He won the Whitney in 2023, also by 6 1/4 lengths, and concluded that year with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Like Sierra Leone and Fierceness, he enters off a loss, having finished fourth in the Met Mile.

The Whitney headlines a stellar Saratoga card that includes three other Grade 1 events: the Fourstardave S., Saratoga Derby, and Test S. Post time for the Whitney is 5:41 p.m. ET.