Hardly ever do top-class racemares duplicate their efforts from the racetrack as broodmares. The chances are merely stacked in opposition to such a feat. It has been carried out, although, and if one have been to rank mares who have been one of the best in each careers, Miesque would undoubtedly be close to the highest of that record. She gained 10 Grade or Group 1 races, together with two editions of the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and her first two foals have been traditional winners.
Miesque was a daughter of the good Nureyev, out of the Show Out mare Pasadoble. Pasadoble was a stakes winner however her first foal, born in 1984 and named Miesque, was her crowning achievement. Greek transport magnate Stavros Niarchos bred and raced the filly beneath his Flaxman Holdings banner. He selected Frenchman Francois Boutin to coach her and her profession was very a lot a world one.
Miesque ran in 16 races in her three seasons on the monitor. She gained 12 of them and by no means completed worse than third. Fourteen of her races have been in opposition to Grade or Group 1 competitors, and she or he collected 10 wins, three seconds and a 3rd from her top-tier efforts.
The bay filly started her profession with three wins in 4 begins, together with a win over males within the Group 1 Prix de la Salamandre and one other top-level rating within the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac. Her efficiency earned her champion 2-year-old honors in France.
Miesque’s sophomore season included victories within the English and French One Thousand Guineas and the open-company Prix Jacques le Marois and Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. She completed second within the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot earlier than making a 5,000-plus mile journey to Southern California within the autumn of 1987.
November 21 would transform a momentous day for Miesque and her human connections. The filly skimmed the rail in a ground-saving journey within the 1987 Breeders’ Cup Mile, and jockey Freddie Head managed to information her via a gap on the within on the prime of the stretch. Miesque used her devastating flip of foot to demoralize her competitors, shortly opening as much as win by daylight in her American debut. Head referred to as her one of the best he’s ever ridden after her show of expertise and tenacity at Hollywood Park that day.
In her first three begins as a 4-year-old, Miesque notched two Group 1 triumphs and completed second by a head within the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp earlier than touring throughout the pond to strive for a repeat victory within the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Although the 1987 Mile was run on a agency, dry California turf course, the 1988 version would current a special problem for the filly on a cool, damp day at Churchill Downs.
Miesque circled the course on the skin, touring large round each turns whereas settling in mid-pack. She ran previous Steinlen, a future Breeders’ Cup Mile winner himself, and Merely Majestic in mid-stretch and swept to a powerful 4-length victory to turn out to be the primary racehorse to win two consecutive Breeders’ Cup races.
Miesque was named champion feminine turf horse in the US in 1987 and 1988 together with a bevy of European awards each years. She took her place within the U.S. Racing Corridor of Fame in 1999.
Miesque was retired to the breeding shed after the 1988 Mile and she or he first paid a go to to main sire Mr. Prospector. Kingmambo was the ensuing foal born in 1990. Like his dam, Kingmambo was a homebred for Stavros Niarchos and raced in France and England. The colt gained the St. James’s Palace, the French Two Thousand Guineas and the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp in a stellar profession.
Kingmambo retired to stud at Lane’s Finish Farm in Kentucky and have become a number one worldwide sire with Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Child and Two Thousand Guineas winners King’s Finest and Henrythenavigator to his credit score. His sons King’s Finest, King Kamehameha, and Lemon Drop Child have additionally emerged as high-class sires themselves.
The second foal out of Miesque was equally excellent. East of the Moon, a filly by Personal Account, emulated her mom in profitable the French One Thousand Guineas and added a second French traditional when profitable the Prix de Diane. East of the Moon gained a 3rd Group 1, and was second in a further Group 1 and a Group 3 throughout her eight-race profession.
Miesque’s different foals didn’t stay as much as the classic-winning priority set by Kingmambo and East of the Moon, however two have been Group 3 winners and one other a stakes winner. Her affect has endured via additional generations, as her Group 3 winner Miesque’s Son sired Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Miesque’s Approval and her daughter Monevassia produced eventual champion Rumplestiltskin.
Rumplestiltskin, in flip, produced 2014 Yorkshire Oaks (Group 1) winner Tapestry and is the grandam (maternal grandmother) of Japanese famous person Loves Solely You, the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner., Equally, Miesque’s stakes-winning daughter Moon Is Up, by Woodman, is the grandam of French traditional winner and 2014 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Karakontie.
As vital as they’re, two Breeders’ Cup Mile wins have been however two objects on Miesque’s lengthy record of racing achievements. With ten Grade or Group 1 wins and a bunch of championships to her credit score, she headed to the breeding shed with excessive expectations and didn’t disappoint. Miesque handed away on Jan. 20, 2011 however her legacy lives on within the likes of sires and dams like Lemon Drop Child, Miesque’s Approval, Rumplestiltskin, Karakontie, and Loves Solely You.
Editor’s Notice: This story was initially revealed in 2014 and has been up to date.
