ARCADIA, Calif. – Uni’s petite chestnut-coated body is the size of a deer, but this mare kicks like a mule. Saturday, in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile, she launched herself into the race past the three-furlong pole, rushed up to fellow female Got Stormy, and comfortably outkicked her to give trainer Chad Brown his 14th Breeders’ Cup winner but first in the Mile. Got Stormy ran a strong race, a winning race, and capped off an exciting all-female exacta, but in the final furlong she was no match for Uni’s fleet, relentless run. “She’s an unbelievable horse,” said Uni’s jockey, Joel Rosario. Rosario formed a beautiful partnership with Uni during the second part of 2018. Together, they’ve won four times from five starts, adding the Mile to Grade 1 wins in the Matriarch at Santa Anita last fall and the First Lady at Keeneland last month. “The relationship between jockey and horse is about as strong as it can get,” said Brown. After Uni won the First Lady with a breathtaking move last month, setting a Keeneland turf-course record for a mile, her owners – Michael Dubb, Head of Plains Partners, Robert LaPenta, and Bethlehem Stables – supplemented the mare to the Breeders’ Cup for $100,000. That was money well spent, as Uni not only enhanced her already considerable résumé but picked up the $1.1 million first prize in the Mile. Uni is by More Than Ready, a Breeders’ Cup-nominated sire, but was bred in Great Britain by Haras D’Etreham and is out of the Dansili mare Unaided, and was not made Breeders’ Cup eligible as a foal. Got Stormy was comfortably second best, and Without Parole, also trained by Brown, ran a strong race making his first start since May 19 and first in North America to edge Circus Maximus for third. “If I had a little more time with him and maybe another piece of work or two, who knows what might have happened,” Brown said. Circus Maximus turned in a solid performance while never looking like a winner. Jockey Ryan Moore said Circus Maximus found the turf course “a little too fast.” Suedois was scratched with a sore hoof Saturday, and later in the morning Bolo came out after getting sick. Bolo’s scratch appeared to take even more pace out of field lacking speed. Or so it seemed on paper. Instead, Hey Gaman and El Tormenta tore down the homestretch into the first turn, ripping off an opening quarter mile in 22.78 and going the first half in 45.32. With a fast pace in front of them, Got Stormy and Tyler Gaffalione sat farther off the front than usual. “We thought we might be on the lead or sitting right off it, but it looked like a few others had that idea, and so [Gaffalione] had to choose to sit back,” said Got Stormy’s trainer, Mark Casse. “But that’s her best race.” Uni broke with surprising alacrity but with the pacemakers flying settled back in 10th, racing just outside Without Parole.   “Joel did exactly what our plan was: Break as well as we can and let her find herself into the first turn,” Brown said. “I just loved where my spot was, and when you throw that fraction up early, I absolutely loved where we were.” Uni won the Matriarch last December with a massive stretch run, which Brown described as the fastest final quarter-mile a horse he trains ever has run on a flat track. Uni came back from the race body sore, needed extra time to fully recover, and she didn’t start until June 29 this year. She beat overmatched foes in her comeback race, then finished third, well beaten by Got Stormy in the Fourstardave at Saratoga. Uni had to overcome a late deficit with a desperate run in the Matriarch last December, but she won the First Lady and now the Mile by moving into position around the far turn. Her sleek, athletic frame allows her push-button acceleration to be deployed while running hard around a turn, and Uni then finishes things off with her brilliant burst. Saturday, she got her final quarter-mile in less than 22.50 seconds and clocked 1:32.45 over the firm ground. She paid $9.20 as the favorite. Uni came to Brown from France early in 2017 with the 1 ¼-mile Belmont Oaks Invitational as a target. She finished third in that race, but Brown said he always had a cutback in distance planned. “First time we looked at her and breezed her, she’s a little runt-sized keg of dynamite,” Brown said. The powder isn’t used up yet, either. Sol Kumin, who spoke after the race on behalf of the owning partners, said Uni would race again in 2020. Another run in the Matriarch later this year hasn’t been ruled out. He also mentioned the Queen Anne Stakes on opening day of Royal Ascot in late June as a longer-term goal. Brown has been loath to run his horses overseas, and Kumin said the owners “might have to do some arm-twisting with Chad” for him to consider the trip. Brown appears risk averse when it comes to sending his top horses around the world. His owners took a $100,000 gamble with Uni and cashed big at Santa Anita.