Fine on any turf, any place

CHICAGO - Put Miesque's Approval in a turf race anywhere between a mile and 1 1/8 miles, on pretty much any type of grass course, and he's going to run his race. No matter where he might be at the time.

Throughout a successful three-season career, Miesque's Approval has been based at East Coast tracks with trainer Bill Mott, but he has raced all over the place. So far his 16 starts have come at 10 different venues, and the list grows Sunday when Miesque's Approval runs at Arlington in the $150,000 Sea o'Erin Breeders' Cup Mile.

Miesque's Approval tops the Sea o'Erin, which drew a good field of eight. Behind him in the public's estimation should come Rock Slide, Al's Dearly Bred, and Package Store. Captain Nicholas, Man o' Rhythm, Holy Conflict, and Attack the Books also are entered.

The fans will like Miesque's Approval, and so too does leading rider Rene Douglas, who jumps off Al's Dearly Bred to ride him. And why not? Miesque's Approval has finished first or second in 11 of his 15 races, and always is around the money. That comes from his consistency as a racehorse - and from good management. It didn't take long for Mott to figure out what sort of spots fit Miesque's Approval, and he has been putting the horse in them ever since.

"He's always been really straightforward," Mott said Friday from his Belmont barn. "He's got a great disposition - he's not particularly quirky about anything."

That gives Mott the latitude to look anywhere for races Miesque's Approval fits, which has led to two California trips and other minor forays to Delaware Park, Woodbine, and most recently Kentucky, where he shipped after wintering in Florida. Miesque's Approval made his last start at Keeneland, where he was a troubled second in the Grade 2 Maker's Mark Mile, the sort of performance that clearly makes him the horse to beat Sunday.

A win by Al's Dearly Bred, Package Store, or Rock Slide would qualify as a minor upset; one by any of the others a major surprise.

Trainer Neil Howard is trying to refashion Rock Slide as a turf horse, and indeed Rock Slide is 2 for 2 on grass. A stakes winner on dirt last winter, Rock Slide's career could be lengthened and perhaps improved by the change.

Rock Slide has battled nagging physical problems at different times in his career, but "ever since we got him back to Churchill this spring he's been doing good," Howard said. "We've gone to the grass and he's done well there."