BREEDERS’ CUP LEGEND

MIESQUE

Above and right, Miesque brought her A game to Churchill Downs in 1988 to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

No other horse could match Miesque’s turn of foot in the ’87 Mile.

Son Kingmambo became an infuential sire. Grandson Miesque’s Approval won the 2006 Mile.

ANNE M. EBERHARDT BREEDERS’ CUP LTD

JERRY COOKE

TONY LEONARD SKIP DICKSTEIN M iesque thrilled racing fans with her efortless victories in consecutive runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Mile — 1987 at Hollywood Park and 1988 at Churchill Downs — and became the frst horse to win two Breeders’ Cup races.

Not only did Miesque cement her reputation as one of racing’s greatest milers, but her impact as a broodmare resonates today. Indeed, two of her descendants have won runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and it’s likely her name will appear in the pedigrees of future Breeders’ Cup winners.

Bred and owned by the late Stavros Niarchos’ Flaxman Holdings, Miesque was born in Kentucky in 1984. A daughter of champion miler Nureyev and the stakes-winning Prove Out mare Pasadoble, Miesque showed an early appitude for turf racing. Trained by the legendary Francois Boutin, Miesque won her career debut and then added back-to-back group 1 victories in the Prix de la Salamandre and the Prix Marcel Boussac to earn the title as France’s champion 2-year-old flly.

In 1987, Miesque won two classic races — the English 1,000 Guineas and the French equivalent — among other top-level events before concluding her season with a breathtaking victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. She earned the Eclipse Award as champion grass horse.

The following year, Miesque won a second running of France’s prestigious summer mile event — the Prix Jacques le Marois — then failed to repeat in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. That loss raised doubts about her invincibility in the ’88 Mile, but she put all skepticism to rest. On a crisp late-fall day at Churchill Downs, the bay flly displayed her trademark turn of foot to dismiss the feld by four lengths.

Miesque retired to the Oak Tree Division of Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky after that victory. In all, she won 12 of her 16 career starts, including 10 group/grade 1 stakes, and earned $2,070,163.

Miesque earned a second Eclipse Award to add to her collection of European trophies.

“On a given day, I rode horses that were as good as she was,” Miesque’s jockey, Freddy Head, told The BloodHorse, “but I never rode one better than her.”

Miesque had an immediate impact as a broodmare. Her offspring include Kingmambo, an internationally infuential sire who stood at Lane’s End, French champion East of the Moon, and group 3 winners Mingun and Miesque’s Son. The latter sired Miesque’s Approval, who maintained the family tradition of turf mile dominance by winning the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Mile. Miesque also produced stakes winner Moon Is Up who is the granddam of 2014 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Karakontie.

Miesque passed away from old age in 2011. KM