MORE THAN LOOKS
More Than Ready - Ladies’ Privilege, by Harlan’s Holiday
THEY’VE GOT THE LOOK...
2020 Dkb/br | 16 Hands
$200,000 Jefferson Cup S.
PAST PERFORMANCES
HIGHLIGHTS
WINNER OF THE 2024 G1 BREEDERS’ CUP MILE
Defeating 8 G1 winners including multiple G1Ws: Johannes, Carl Spackler (IRE), Notable Speech (GB), & Porta Fortuna (IRE) 5- Ragozin
Winner of the G3 Manila S. and the $200,000 Jefferson Cup S. at 3
4 triple-digit Beyers - 105, 101, 101, 100
2nd in the G1 Fourstardave H. at Saratoga
2nd in the G1 Turf Mile S. at Keeneland
From the female family of multiple G1 winner Critical Eye
Black type winning dam is a full to MGSW Takeover Target
By leading sire of Breeders’ Cup winners and wins - More Than Ready
13 G1 winners
50 graded stakes winners
119 stakes winners
If you operate one of those oddball programs that WANTS TO BREED WINNERS, then you’d have to be interested in THE TURN OF FOOT THIS DASHING ANIMAL SHOWED when cutting down an international field in the GI BREEDERS’ CUP MILE.
Chris McGrath, TDN
12/17/24
RACE REPLAYS
G3 Manilla S.
$200,000 Jefferson Cup S.
G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile
PEDIGREE
Southern Halo
More Than Ready
Woodman’s Girl
Harlan’s Holiday
Ladies’ Privilege
Vanquished
FEMALE FAMILY
1st dam
Halo
Northern Sea
Woodman
Becky Be Good
Harlan
Christmas in Aiken
Empire Maker
Critical Crew
LADIES’ PRIVILEGE, by Harlan’s Holiday. 2 wins at 3, $121,675, Hall of Fame S. (PRX, $60,000). Sister to TAKEOVER TARGET. Dam of 5 foals, 3 to race, 1 winner-MORE THAN LOOKS (c. More Than Ready). Black type winner. See record. 2nd dam
Vanquished, by Empire Maker. Winner at 3, $57,300. Half-sister to CRITICAL EYE ($1,060,984, Hempstead H.-G1, etc.), Personable Pete ($245,648, 2nd Count Fleet S. [L] (AQU, $16,405), etc.), Glamorista ($138,032, 3rd A Gleam H.-G2 (BHP, $24,000)). Dam of 6 winners-TAKEOVER TARGET (c. by Harlan’s Holiday). 5 wins, 2 to 4, $826,685, Longines Dixie S.-G2 (PIM, $150,000), National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame S.-G2 (SAR, $120,000), Hill Prince S.-G3 (BEL, $300,000), 2nd Pennine Ridge S. (BEL, $40,000), Danger’s Hour S. (AQU, $20,000), 3rd Fasig-Tipton Lure S. -R (SAR, $10,000). Sire.
LADIES’ PRIVILEGE (f. by Harlan’s Holiday). Black type winner, see above. Lost Iron (g. by Flatter). 4 wins, 3 to 5, $159,137. Bustle (f. by More Than Ready). 5 wins, 2 to 4, $138,032. Producer. Dothraki (c. by Into Mischief). Winner in 2 starts at 3, 2024, $25,100. Lynda’s Rage (f. by Sky Mesa). Winner at 4, $20,741.
3rd dam
Critical Crew, by Dr. Blum. 2 wins at 3, $73,520. Half-sister to TIME OFF ($128,350, Hill Prince S. [G3]). Dam of 9 winners-CRITICAL EYE (f. by Dynaformer). 14 wins, 2 to 5, $1,060,984, Hempstead H.-G1, Gazelle H.-G1, Sheepshead Bay H.-G2, Honey Bee H.-G3, Ladies H.-G3 (AQU, $64,440), 2nd Bed o’ Roses Breeders’ Cup H.-G3, Ticonderoga H. -R (BEL, $30,000), 3rd Delta Air Lines Top Flight H.-G2, etc. Dam of-See the Forest (f. by Forestry). 6 wins, 3 to 5, $126,313. Dam of--
WHITTINGTON PARK (c. by Midnight Lute). 6 wins, 2 to 5, 2024, $385,435, Haynesfield S. -R (AQU, $55,000), 3rd Commentator S. -R (SAR, $24,000). LOOMS BOLDLY (g. by Goldencents). 5 wins, 2 to 4, 2024, $326,120, John Morrissey H. -R (SAR, $68,750), Damon Runyon S. -R (AQU, $55,000), 3rd Mike Lee S. -R (BEL, $15,000). CRITICAL VALUE (f. by Bodemeister). 3 wins at 2 and 3, $303,795, Maid of the Mist S. -R (BEL, $137,500), Bouwerie S. -R (BEL, $55,000), 3rd Biogio’s Rose S. -R (AQU, $12,000). Green Eyed Cat (f. by Tale of the Cat). Unplaced in 1 start. Dam of--
LITTLE KANSAS (g. by El Kingdom). 5 wins, 3 to 7, $248,332, Brickyard S. -R (IND, $59,907).
Headline Report (g. by Gormley). Winner at 2, $71,165, 2nd Sanford S.-G3 (SAR, $30,000).
Personable Pete (g. by Personal Flag). 4 wins, 2 to 4, $245,648, 2nd Count Fleet S. [L] (AQU, $16,405), Damon Runyon S. -R (AQU, $16,520).
Glamorista (f. by Unbridled’s Song). 3 wins at 4 and 5, $138,032, 3rd A Gleam H.-G2 (BHP, $24,000).
MATING ANALYSIS
G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner More Than Looks is a larger and scopier version of his celebrated dual-hemisphere sire More Than Ready, who died in 2022 at the age of 25 after shuttling between Kentucky and Australia for 19 years. To date, he’s the sire of 230 black-type winners—only Galileo, Danehill, and Sadler’s Wells have more—and he is renowned for siring early maturing horses that get to the races, stand training, and win.
More Than Ready, a son of leading Argentine sire Southern Halo, also has a well-earned reputation for siring turf horses like More Than Looks—it’s the surface on which his Australian-conceived progeny excelled—mostly at sprint to mile distances, but in North America the story is a bit different. More Than Ready raced and excelled on dirt, winning the G1 King’s Bishop (and was fourth in the G1 Kentucky Derby), and he has had his fair share of dirt runners, some at distances of more than a mile. They include such top-level winners as Daredevil, a G1 Champagne winner who sired champion 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver, a G1 Preakness winner, and Shedaresthedevil, winner of the G1 Kentucky Oaks, from his first crop; champion sprinter Roy H., who won the G1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint twice; G1 Travers winner Catholic Boy; and G1 Haskell winner Verrazano, among others.
Turf, however, is More Than Ready’s metier, and even the aforementioned dirt Grade 1 winner Catholic Boy won a G1 race on turf. More Than Ready holds the record for most Breeders’ Cup race wins as a sire with eight, and of his seven individual Breeders’ Cup winners, More Than Looks, More Than Real, Pluck, Regally Ready, Rushing Fall (champion turf mare), and Uni (champion turf mare), all except champion sprinter Roy H, a two-time winner of the Sprint, won on turf. Furthermore, they either won juvenile turf races, sprints, or mile races, highlighting More Than Ready’s strengths as a sire.
More Than Looks is from the turf stakes-winning Harlan’s Holiday mare Ladies’ Privilege, a full-sister to turf G2 winner and $826,685 winner Takeover Target. They are out of the Empire Maker mare Vanquished, whose half-sister by Dynaformer, Critical Eye, was a G1 winner of more than a million. There’s quality here, but the salient feature of the dam and her immediate family is turf, and when coupled with a sire noted for high-quality turf winners at up to a mile, it’s no wonder that More Than Looks excelled on grass, a surface on which he raced exclusively (except for one start on all-weather). All told, More Than Looks won five of 11 starts, placed four times, and earned $1,870,715. He won his races with devastating acceleration and was a generous colt with plenty of try. He’s the perfect example that a home-grown turf horse in North America can have a successful and lucrative career without setting foot on dirt, and he’s not alone in this regard, either.
More Than Looks is another excellent candidate for his sire, whose profile as a sire maker could very well mirror that of Unbridled’s Song, whose two best sons—Lane’s End’s Liam’s Map and the deceased Arrogate—came at the end of his own career as a stallion.
Moreover, increased turf opportunities in North America over the last decade will aid More Than Looks as he enters stud, just as they did Kitten’s Joy and War Front, to name two premier stallions noted more for turf than dirt. Success on dirt isn’t out of the question for More Than Looks, either, if Daredevil’s own record of siring
MORE THAN LOOKS
two first-crop dirt Classic winners is any indication of the scope of the sire line.
Perhaps the best dirt line for More Than Looks will come from A.P. Indy, whose sons have succeeded with Daredevil as broodmare sires. Congrats is the sire of the dam of Shedaresthedevil, while daughters of Mineshaft and Majestic Warrior have also produced stakes winners by Daredevil, as has a daughter of A.P. Indy herself. More Than Ready has four black-type winners, including G1 winner Catholic Boy, from Bernardini mares, and his G1 winner Room Service is from an Old Trieste mare. Others from the line bred this way are two black-type winners by Verrazano, one from a Sky Mesa (Pulpit) mare and the other from a mare by Pulpit. And the young More Than Ready horse Copper Bullet’s first-crop four-time stakes winner Copper Tax is from a mare by Majestic Warrior. This suggests right away that mares by Tapit, a son of Pulpit and grandson of A.P. Indy, are viable candidates for More Than Looks. Daughters of Tapit haven’t had much opportunity with the Halo line in North America, but in Japan, through Halo’s son Sunday Silence, his daughters so far have produced several black-type winners by sires such as Deep Impact (G1 winner Gran Alegria), Daiwa Major, Kizuna, and Orfevre. The broodmare population in Kentucky is flush with the Tapit line, and along with daughters of Bernardini, he could become the A.P. Indy conduit for More Than Looks. Kingmambo and his son Lemon Drop Kid, also have positive relationships with More Than Ready, and their presences in pedigrees should be considered. The Australian G1 winner Egg Tart, for example, is by the More Than Ready sire Sebring from a mare by King’s Best (Kingmambo). More Than Ready’s strike rate with Kingmambo is an exceptional 6/32, or close to 20%, with Kingmambo anywhere in the pedigree, and the same holds true from a more limited group with Lemon Drop Kid, with whom More Than Ready is 2/10. Verrazano also has a stakes winner from a Lemon Drop Kid mare.
More Than Ready is 14/123 with the Gone West line, through elite sires Quality Road and Speightstown. Roy H, for instance, is from a mare by Elusive Quality, the sire of Quality Road. And Verrazano has a Southern Hemisphere G1 winner from a mare by Smarty Jones, also a son of Elusive Quality. More Than Ready has blacktype winners from mares by Speightstown, Mr. Greeley, Grand Slam, Zafonic, and Came Home, a large enough sampling of Gone West variety to suggest that they will be beneficial to More Than Looks.
The same may be true for Street Cry-line mares, especially through Street Sense. The latter is the broodmare sire of More Than Ready’s G2 winner Emery, and he has a black-type winner from a Street Cry mare as well, but what’s encouraging is that several sons of the stallion, including Catholic Boy, Sebring, and Verrazano, have black-type winners on this fledgling cross. Note that the More Than Ready turf stayer Funtastic’s G2 winner First Peace’s second dam is by Street Cry.
The most potent cross for More Than Ready internationally is with Danzig-line mares. The stallion has nine G1 winners on the cross, including Uni (Dansili), but the lion’s share of them are from daughters of Danehill. However, this is a nick that’s filtered through to his sons and grandsons, and Sebring, Gimmethegreenlight, Gold Standard, and Verrazano have also sired top-level winners on
the cross with a variety of Danzig-line mares. Mares by stallions such as War Front and Hard Spun, both sons of Danzig, are logical choices. In fact, More Than Ready’s G2 winner Emmanuel is from a Hard Spun mare.
Almost as important as Danzig to More Than Ready is Storm Cat, through a variety of branches. More Than Looks himself is a product of this cross, as is Verrazano’s G1 winner Chi Town Lady, who also is from a Harlan’s Holiday mare. Verrazano himself is from a mare by Giant’s Causeway, as are More Than Ready’s G1 winner Say the Word and a pair of group winners by his sons from Shamardal mares, strongly suggesting that Giant’s Causeway’s best son in North America, Not This Time, is a serious candidate for More Than Looks with his daughters. Note that the previously mentioned five-time graded winner Emmanuel’s second dam is by Giant’s Causeway.
Other branches of Storm Cat that have succeeded with More Than Ready include Forestry (Rushing Fall), Johannesburg (Swiss Skydiver), Scat Daddy (the sire of Justify), Stormy Atlantic, Tale of the Cat, among others. The only sire from a branch of Storm Cat that should be approached with caution is Into Mischief, who is by Harlan’s Holiday. Breeding an into Mischief mare to More Than Looks will result in the close duplication of Harlan’s Holiday at 3x3, and to date there’s only one black-type winner bred this way.
Other prominent sire lines that have combined to produce group or graded winners with More Than Ready include Indian Charlie (sire of Uncle Mo), Unbridled’s Song (sire of Liam’s Map and Arrogate), and Forty Niner (sire of Distorted Humor).
