Breeders' Cup Mile: More Than Looks putting it together at right time
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It has been 23 years since an American 3-year-old won the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but the way More Than Looks ran winning the Jefferson Cup on Sept. 30 at Churchill Downs, he won’t be without a chance in the 2023 Mile – provided he gets into the race.
More Than Looks is light on qualifying points, with just six, but of the solid Mile starters as of this week, only five horses either qualified through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series or have more points than More Than Looks.
“We’re going to go on like he’s going to get in,” said Cherie DeVaux, who trains More Than Looks for Victory Racing Partners.
A 3-year-old has won the BC Mile four of the last nine years, but those horses all came from overseas. War Chant in 2000 was the last American-trained 3-year-old Mile winner, and he had a much higher profile than More Than Looks. War Chant finished second in the Santa Anita Derby, ran ninth in the Kentucky Derby, then didn’t race again until he made his turf debut beating older horses in the Oak Tree Mile before triumphing in the Mile.
More Than Looks around Derby time this year was still a first-level allowance horse in early stages of development.
“He had a lot of immaturity as a 2-year-old and as an early 3-year-old. He was very busy in the stall, things like that. He’s really come around the last few months,” DeVaux said.
More Than Looks won the Manila Stakes over the good colt Talk of the Nation in July, but finished third in the Hall of Fame at Saratoga, reverting to an old habit.
“He’d make his run, then get green when he approached the horses in front of him,” DeVaux said. “We were hoping he’d put his head down and run straight to the wire.”
The colt did just that in the age-restricted Jefferson Cup. Far back at the top of the homestretch, More Than Looks flew through his final quarter-mile in 22.94 seconds and won by 2 3/4 lengths. DeVaux said the Mile wasn’t on anyone’s mind before the Jefferson Cup, but More Than Looks’s flashy finish and good energy out of the race brought it into play.
DeVaux’s lone Breeders’ Cup starter was Tarabi, third in the 2021 Juvenile Fillies. She has Stage Raider for the Dirt Mile and She Feels Pretty for the Juvenile Fillies Turf this year, which has been a career best for DeVaux, who became a head trainer in 2018. Through Tuesday, her stable had earnings of $4.2 million, 44 wins, and four graded stakes wins.
◗ The Queen Elizabeth II on Oct. 21 at Ascot is the last race that could produce Mile runners, though no one running in that race is considered probable for Santa Anita.
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