Space Blues bids to end career in perfect style by striking in Mile

Saturday: 10.20 Del Mar
FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile presented by Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund (Grade 1) | 1m | 3yo+ | ITV4/RTV/Sky

In the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s it was quite common for horses who ran well in the Guineas at Newmarket to come on and win the Breeders' Cup Mile and this year could be considered a throwback to years gone by because both Guineas are represented in 2021.

Miesque was the last 1,000 Guineas winner to go on and land the Breeders' Cup Mile in the same year in 1987 and she was so good she came back to win the race again the following year. So can Mother Earth follow in the footsteps of one of racing's all-time greats?

She isn't in Miesque's class but neither was Six Perfections, who was second at Newmarket and used the 1,000 Guineas as a springboard to victory here. Mother Earth is still behind the 2003 winner on Racing Post Ratings though, so maybe she falls short of the standard.

Master Of The Seas represents the 2,000 Guineas form. He was beaten a short head when second to Poetic Flare at Newmarket and Barathea filled the same position in the 2,000 Guineas in 1993. He didn’t win this race that year, but came back to land it at Churchill Downs in 1994.

Older horses have won seven of the last ten runnings and the betting revolves around the five-year-old Space Blues, who proved he is a genuine Group 1 performer at Longchamp. He is a bona-fide seven-furlong specialist and some might argue that makes him ideal for this mile around sharp turns.

However, recent history doesn't back up that argument because every winner in the last ten years bar Expert Eye (2018) and last season’s scorer, Order Of Australia, had won a Group or Grade 1 over a mile and Order Of Australia had won over a mile and a half.

Mo Forza looks the best of the home challengers and he won the Hollywood Derby over 1m1f at the course as a three-year-old in 2019.

That Grade 1 victory ticks the box regarding stamina and he has been beaten only once in his last nine starts in the Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream last year. Connections might not have got to the bottom of him yet.
Race analysis by Graeme Rodway

Last time lucky for Space Blues?

Space Blues will bid to end his racing career with his biggest win on the track and back up his Prix de la Foret success at on Arc weekend, where he had the measure of fellow Breeders' Cup Mile rival Pearls Galore.

The Charlie Appleby-trained five-year-old is drawn in stall three, but given that he likes to come from off the pace he will need a bit of luck along the way, with the ground also certain to be quicker than what he encountered at Longchamp last month.

Appleby said: "This will be the last run of his career and I feel a sharp mile round Del Mar will suit him. As we've all seen he's a great traveller.

"It'll be quicker ground than he's run on in his last two starts, but it doesn't worry me as he won in Saudi Arabia on quick ground and at Deauville. If the gaps appear, he's got the acceleration to go through them."

Master Of The Seas: 2,000 Guineas second also contests the Breeders' Cup Mile for ApplebyCredit: David Davies/Getty

Appleby will also saddle Master Of The Seas, who will be ridden by James Doyle, and conditions will be more to the liking of the 2,000 Guineas runner-up having floundered in the mud in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Champions Day.

He added: "We probably saw him at his best when he was just touched off in the Guineas on quick ground.

"At Champions Day the ground was just too soft for him but I was keen to get another run into him because he'd missed a large chunk of the summer. He's come out of that race well."

Pearls Galore has another stab at Space Blues and Paddy Twomey is confident conditions will bring out the best in his filly, who was also second in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown.

Key stat

5/6
Five of the six Breeders' Cup turf winners at Del Mar in 2017 were drawn five or less (all fields of 12 or more)

Mother Earth, whose trainer Aidan O'Brien last year saddled a 1-2-3 in this led by Order Of Australia, was third in the Matron having got no run and then led home the group that raced on the near side when second to Saffron Beach in the Sun Chariot, before she also struggled on the ground in the QEII.

The local defence is led by the Peter Miller-trained Mo Forza, who missed the race due to injury in 2020. A winner of the 2019 Hollywood Derby at this track over 1m1f, the five-year-old has won his last three starts at Del Mar and comes into this bidding for a five-timer.

The Jessica Harrington-trained Real Appeal gets in as first reserve. He has progressed exponentially this term, latterly landing the Group 2 Boomerang Stakes at Leopardstown.

What they say

Chad Brown, trainer of Blowout and Raging Bull
Blowout's going to be very forward and she doesn't have to be on the lead. We will give her the opportunity to win the race – she's not in there to set a pace at all. Raging Bull is going to love getting back on the firm ground and he loves Del Mar. That horse is sitting on a big race. He didn't run badly at Woodbine, Frankie [Dettori] said he didn't handle the turf on the turn.

Peter Miller, trainer of Mo Forza
He's so talented and the best miler racing. Last year was really a punch to the gut and it would mean the world to me and the owners if he could win it here at home. I'd love to send him off to stud a Breeders' Cup champion.

Aidan O'Brien, trainer of Mother Earth
Mother Earth is drawn out a bit in stall nine. She loves following a strong pace and she will get that here, which she didn't at Ascot last time. We're very happy with her.

Paddy Twomey, trainer of Pearls Galore
The track will suit. She's very light, agile and has gate speed. She has the speed of a sprinter and she stays a mile, and she will love a high-tempo race. Conditions are absolutely perfect for her.

Bill Mott, trainer of Casa Creed
We like him in this race but we didn’t draw very good. We just have to try to get inside – whether we go forward or backward to do that – because you can’t be wide here.

Jessica Harrington, trainer of Real Appeal
He has got his conditions here as he loves going left-handed and he loves quick ground. He has been very progressive, starting this year as a handicapper off 86. This is a step up again but he just keeps improving.
Reporting by Richard Forristal at Del Mar

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