When Loves Only You sliced her way through traffic with a scintillating turn of foot to capture the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (USA-G1) on November 6, she delivered both a historic first and a blast from the past. The first was her new status as the first horse bred, trained, and raced in Japan to capture a Breeders' Cup event. The blast from the past was the heritage that enabled her to find the electric burst of speed that led to her triumph, for she is a great-granddaughter of Miesque, one of the most remarkable runners to grace the history of the Breeders' Cup.
Loves You Only's connection to Miesque has been explored in an earlier post ("Mares on Monday: More Love for Miesque in Japanese Oaks," 5/20/2019), but it is well worth a moment's reminiscence to look back at Miesque's own performances in the Breeders' Cup. In 1987, Miesque, then a 3-year-old, went off as the 7-2 second choice in the wagering for the Breeders' Cup Mile (USA-G1). Her victory was as much due to the split-second timing of jockey Freddy Head and the filly's own unflinching courage as to the explosive burst that carried her through a narrow hole on the rail to score an impressive victory in Hollywood course record time. Off that single win on American soil, she was voted the Eclipse Award winner in the American turf female division to go with titles as the best 3-year-old filly and best miler in both England and France.
Five championship titles in one year was a record for the ages, and Miesque did not quite equal that in 1988; she only won three, including a repeat as American champion turf female. (She was also champion older female and co-champion miler in France.) As in 1987, she earned her American honors off a single sensational performance in the Breeders' Cup Mile. Running over a softer, more tiring surface at Churchill Downs than she had encountered in 1987, she took the outside route and simply overwhelmed her field with her stretch run, leaving as good a horse as Steinlen four lengths to her rear. The following year, Steinlen would reign as American champion turf male, crowning his campaign with a Breeders' Cup Mile win of his own. Miesque's other victims included English and French champion 3-year-old male and miler (co-champion with Miesque in France) Warning, who in fairness seemed unable to handle the footing, and the brilliant Ravinella, winner of that year's One Thousand Guineas (ENG-G1) and Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas, FR-G1).
As stellar as she had been on the race course, Miesque went on to an equally remarkable career as a broodmare. One could hardly expect her to maintain the standard she set with her first two foals, for they were 1993 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas, FR-G1) winner and top sire Kingmambo (by Mr. Prospector) and 1994 French dual Classic winner East of the Moon (by Private Account). She did not, but she produced three more stakes winners, two of them at Group 3 level. She has also bred on richly through her daughters, whose descendants of note in just the last three years have included 2018 European champion 3-year-old filly Alpha Centauri, 2018 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby, FR-G1) winner Study of Man, 2020 Coronation Stakes (ENG-G1) winner Alpine Moon, 2021 Moyglare Stud Stakes (IRE-G1) winner Discoveries, and, of course, Loves Only You, who had previously won the 2019 Yushin Himba (Japanese Oaks, JPN-G1) and the 2021 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (HK-G1).
Loves Only You is the second Breeders' Cup winner descended in direct female line from Miesque, following 2014 Mile winner Karakontie, who was also bred in Japan but was trained and raced in France prior to his Breeders' Cup score, and the daughter of Deep Impact is not likely to be the last of her line. With the number of top female descendants Miesque has out there, it looks as if it will be only a matter of time before Miesque's name is written still deeper into Breeders' Cup history and into bloodstock annals around the world.
Loves You Only's connection to Miesque has been explored in an earlier post ("Mares on Monday: More Love for Miesque in Japanese Oaks," 5/20/2019), but it is well worth a moment's reminiscence to look back at Miesque's own performances in the Breeders' Cup. In 1987, Miesque, then a 3-year-old, went off as the 7-2 second choice in the wagering for the Breeders' Cup Mile (USA-G1). Her victory was as much due to the split-second timing of jockey Freddy Head and the filly's own unflinching courage as to the explosive burst that carried her through a narrow hole on the rail to score an impressive victory in Hollywood course record time. Off that single win on American soil, she was voted the Eclipse Award winner in the American turf female division to go with titles as the best 3-year-old filly and best miler in both England and France.
Five championship titles in one year was a record for the ages, and Miesque did not quite equal that in 1988; she only won three, including a repeat as American champion turf female. (She was also champion older female and co-champion miler in France.) As in 1987, she earned her American honors off a single sensational performance in the Breeders' Cup Mile. Running over a softer, more tiring surface at Churchill Downs than she had encountered in 1987, she took the outside route and simply overwhelmed her field with her stretch run, leaving as good a horse as Steinlen four lengths to her rear. The following year, Steinlen would reign as American champion turf male, crowning his campaign with a Breeders' Cup Mile win of his own. Miesque's other victims included English and French champion 3-year-old male and miler (co-champion with Miesque in France) Warning, who in fairness seemed unable to handle the footing, and the brilliant Ravinella, winner of that year's One Thousand Guineas (ENG-G1) and Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas, FR-G1).
As stellar as she had been on the race course, Miesque went on to an equally remarkable career as a broodmare. One could hardly expect her to maintain the standard she set with her first two foals, for they were 1993 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas, FR-G1) winner and top sire Kingmambo (by Mr. Prospector) and 1994 French dual Classic winner East of the Moon (by Private Account). She did not, but she produced three more stakes winners, two of them at Group 3 level. She has also bred on richly through her daughters, whose descendants of note in just the last three years have included 2018 European champion 3-year-old filly Alpha Centauri, 2018 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby, FR-G1) winner Study of Man, 2020 Coronation Stakes (ENG-G1) winner Alpine Moon, 2021 Moyglare Stud Stakes (IRE-G1) winner Discoveries, and, of course, Loves Only You, who had previously won the 2019 Yushin Himba (Japanese Oaks, JPN-G1) and the 2021 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (HK-G1).
Loves Only You is the second Breeders' Cup winner descended in direct female line from Miesque, following 2014 Mile winner Karakontie, who was also bred in Japan but was trained and raced in France prior to his Breeders' Cup score, and the daughter of Deep Impact is not likely to be the last of her line. With the number of top female descendants Miesque has out there, it looks as if it will be only a matter of time before Miesque's name is written still deeper into Breeders' Cup history and into bloodstock annals around the world.
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