SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sierra Leone, beaten a nose by Mystik Dan when second as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby after lugging in during the stretch run, will wear a new bit, known as a cage bit, when he starts as the likely favorite in the $2 million Belmont Stakes next Saturday at Saratoga. On Saturday, Sierra Leone worked with that new bit and went a solid half-mile in 49.44 seconds over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga. Sierra Leone, who worked on the inside of Tampa Bay Derby winner Domestic Product, got his last quarter in 24.32 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.55 per Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. “I thought he worked great. It was just what I wanted to do, a little maintenance half, he had a nice, strong gallop-out and he came back good,” Chad Brown, trainer of Sierra Leone, said. “So, I’m really pleased with that last piece of work.” :: DRF's Belmont Stakes Headquarters: Contenders, latest news, and more The new bit is a straight bar – as opposed to a "D-bit" which has a little break to it – which is intended to give the jockey more control when steering a horse that tends to lug in. Sierra Leone lugged in during the stretch run of last December’s Grade 2 Remsen, a race in which he made the lead, but was overtaken by Dornoch late. Brown said he experimented with the cage bit during training in the winter but didn’t think the horse trained well in it. Instead, Brown added blinkers to Sierra Leone’s equipment and the horse responded with victories in the Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds and the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland. Brown acknowledged that in both of those races when Sierra Leone got to the front “he came over a path but it wasn’t much, very reasonable,” he said. In conjunction with the blinker change, Brown had instructed jockey Tyler Gaffalione to keep the riding crop in his left hand and be prepared to give Sierra Leone a strike or two if need be to keep him from coming in on a horse to his inside. In the stretch of the Kentucky Derby, Gaffalione was not able to use his left-handed stick when he and Forever Young came together, exchanging bumps “That was something that didn’t go our way,” Brown said. “Maybe if Tyler had the stick in his left hand sooner, like he did in the other races – I’m not blaming him because it’s a challenging trip and the other two horses ran terrific that he was on the wire with –  for our horse it very well could have prevented him from getting to the point where he was next to Forever Young.” Brown said after the Derby he went to back to the cage bit and in conjunction with the blinkers he has liked what he’s seen in Sierra Leone’s two post-Derby workouts. “With the exercise rider and from what I see, I’m just looking for the horse to accept it and not regress in it and see if it helps him,” Brown said. :: DRF Belmont Stakes Packages: Save up to 52% on PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more Brown is making a rider change having previously announced that Flavien Prat would ride Sierra Leone in the Belmont. Brown is also making an equipment change on Tuscan Gold for the Belmont Stakes. He is adding blinkers to that colt’s equipment after his fourth-place finish in the Preakness Stakes. On Saturday, Tuscan Gold, wearing those blinkers, worked a half-mile in 48.43 seconds, according to Welsch. Tuscan Gold worked in company with the maiden Clever Mischief. Brown said given the type of maintenance work that was Saturday’s move, “it’s hard to evaluate” the impact of adding blinkers. “You don’t want to do too much, you just ran, you’re kind of looking to see if you want to run,” Brown said. “He worked steady and galloped out well. I’m leaning toward entering him.” The Brown pair were two of nine prospective Belmont starters who worked on Saturday, seven at Saratoga and two at Churchill Downs. Trainer Kenny McPeek worked both Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna before 6 a.m. over the Oklahoma training track. Mystik Dan, working in company with Gould’s Gold, went five furlongs in 1:01.44, getting his last quarter in 24.68 seconds while edging a length clear of his workmate. “That’s a typical maintenance move, routine for us [with] any horse coming back in three weeks,” McPeek said. “Just a nice, solid, five-eighths, breeze in company. The gallop-out was impressive. He might be acting like his energy level might be getting higher from Derby-to Preakness-to-Belmont which is what you got to have.” In the set before Mystik Dan, Thorpedo Anna  worked in 1:01.80, with a final quarter of 24.62 seconds, in company with the New York-bred filly Midnight Concerto. Thorpedo Anna, who started about two lengths back and finished one in front of her mate, was entered Saturday for Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn against 3-year-old fillies. “Any other year I would run her in the Belmont,” McPeek said. “If everything goes good the next day or two, he’ll run there [Belmont] and she’ll run in the other one [Acorn].” :: Bet the Belmont Stakes with confidence! Join DRF Bets and get a $200 deposit match bonus and FREE DRF Past Performances! Trainer Todd Pletcher worked his trio of expected Belmont starters. Shortly after 7:30 a.m., Mindframe and Protective worked four furlongs together in 49.92, according to Welsch, with Mindframe galloping out the stronger of the pair, five furlongs in 1:02.88, six furlongs in 1:15.17, and seven furlongs in 1:28.51. Pletcher said Mindframe has “always been a horse that trains very well, breezes as well as you want him to, always gallops out strong. I think on paper, three half-mile works [since a May 4 allowance win] doesn’t really tell you the story about what he’s doing in his workouts.” Protective, a maiden who finished third in the Wood Memorial and third in the Peter Pan, did not wear blinkers in Saturday’s workout, but will wear them in the Belmont as he has in his previous two starts. At 9:30 a.m., Antiquarian, the Grade 3 Peter Pan winner, went a half-mile in 49.53 seconds in company with Be You, who is pointing to the Grade 1 Woody Stephens. The pair galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.41. Of Antiquarian’s work, Pletcher said “he seemed like he got in a good rhythm; seems like a horse that’s on the improve and doing well.” Dornoch, the Fountain of Youth winner who finished 10th in the Kentucky Derby, worked a half-mile in 48.48 seconds over the Oklahoma training track after going a quick opening quarter of 23.38. He went in company with the New York-bred turf stakes winning Ramblin’ Wreck. Trainer Danny Gargan, communicating via two-way radio, had exercise rider Priscilla Schaefer slow Dornoch down some in the stretch. “I didn’t want to go in 47,” Gargan said. “He’s fit. He just ran in the [Kentucky] Derby.” At Churchill Downs, Honor Marie, who finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby after a difficult trip, worked a half-mile in 48.40 seconds, going in equal splits of 24.20 second outside of the maiden winner Anthem King. Florent Geroux, who will ride the horse for the first time in the Belmont, was aboard the horse for the work. He has worked the horse several times throughout the winter and spring. “Flo gets along with the horse really well,” trainer Whit Beckman said. “My instructions were just sit outside of his company, stay head-and-head. I just wanted a smooth transition from work to gallop-out, just pick it up around the turn and they did just that. I had them galloping out in 1:01-flat, 1:14 as a good as a work can be, not too fast, not too slow.” Also working at Churchill was The Wine Steward, the Peter Pan runner-up, who was timed in 1:02.60 for five furlongs. Preakness winner Seize the Grey was expected to arrive at Saratoga Saturday night following a van ride from Churchill Downs. Resilience, the Wood Memorial winner who finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby, was expected to have his final workout on Sunday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.