Red-hot trainer Miller sending string to Oaklawn

Trainer Peter Miller, who won two Breeders’ Cup races this month at Del Mar, said Wednesday he plans to have a division of horses at the Oaklawn Park meet that opens in January. It will mark the first time he has raced in Arkansas.

Miller won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with Roy H and the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint with Stormy Liberal. His main base of operations will continue to be Southern California.

“We’re planning on coming,” Miller said. “We’re just trying to figure out all the details, but they’ve given us 20 stalls, and we’re looking forward to having a presence out there.”

Miller said purse structure and an abundance of dirt racing were among the appeals of Oaklawn. There is no turf course at the track.

“Hopefully, we can find spots for some of the dirt horses we have trouble getting in out here,” he said.

Miller, 51, reached a career pinnacle with his wins in the Breeders’ Cup. He also captured the fall training title at Del Mar with 19 wins. Miller’s meet was so outstanding that he had one more win than the meet’s leading rider, Flavien Prat.

“This is a November to remember,” he said Wednesday. “It’s been amazing. The Breeders’ Cup was amazing. The Del Mar fall meet was unbelievable.”

Miller’s main base of operations is the San Luis Rey Downs training center in Bonsall, Calif. He also keeps a stable of horses at whichever track is running at the time in Southern California.

Miller’s other Grade 1 winners through the years have included Comma to the Top, Finnegans Wake, Heir Kitty, and Set Play.

Miller is among a large cast of newcomers expected for Oaklawn. Trainers Doug O’Neill, Norman McKnight, and Danny Pish are planning on divisions, while the riding colony will include such new faces as Gary Stevens, Alan Garcia, David Cohen, and Richard Eramia.

Jones filly eyes Houston

Trainer Larry Jones has won two runnings of the richest Thoroughbred stakes in Texas, the $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston, and could be chasing a third victory come Jan. 28.

Proud and Fearless will be considered for the race, Jones said Thursday. She finished a troubled fourth as the favorite in the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks on Nov. 22. The Zia Oaks was that meet’s richest for Thoroughbreds. Proud and Fearless was always in contention in the 1 1/16mile stakes and was making her bid in the stretch under Brian Pedroza when a rival suddenly thwarted her momentum.

“He had to really grab her coming down the lane because of a horse bolting off the rail,” Jones said. “We got beat a length and a quarter for second. We felt it cost us that.”

Sandy’s Surprise was a 4 3/4-length winner of the Zia Oaks, and she too could come under consideration for the Houston Ladies Classic, according to trainer Doug O’Neill.

Proud and Fearless came out of the Zia Oaks in good order, said Jones, and is now based at Fair Grounds.

“We don’t have plans for her yet,” he said, “but we always look at the Houston Ladies Classic every year.”

Jones won the inaugural running in 2013 with Joyful Victory, who gave the race immediate notoriety when she became a Grade 1 winner one start later in the Santa Margarita at Santa Anita. Cassatt won the 2015 Houston Ladies Classic for Jones two starts after taking the Zia Park Oaks.

Proud and Fearless is a daughter of Proud Citizen who races for her breeder, Brereton Jones.

The Houston Ladies Classic is a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares that was upgraded to Grade 3 status following the wins by the Jones runners. It will anchor a card of six stakes worth a total of $825,000, including the Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Turf Cup.

Stakes finale at Zia Park

Zia Park does not close out its meet until Dec. 12, but the final stakes of the season will be run Sunday. The Grade 1, $200,000 Southwest Juvenile Championship for Quarter Horses highlights the program, which also includes races for Thoroughbreds.

Estrella Damm and Stryker Force each will be attempting to win their fourth straight race when they meet in the Southwest Juvenile. They are part of a field of 10 for the 440-yard stakes, which also drew graded stakes winners Carris Cartel and Suenos Dineros.

Estrella Damm, who is one of five fillies in the field, began her streak with a maiden win Sept. 9 at Zia. She won two more overnight races at that track on Oct. 14 and Nov. 12 and will be making her stakes debut Sunday.

Stryker Force started his streak with a maiden win at The Downs at Albuquerque in July. He then won two more races there, a trial for the $252,000 La Fiesta Futurity and then the finals on Sept. 24.

Carris Cartel stumbled at the start, yet still won the Grade 2 Challenge Championship Juvenile in October at Prairie Meadows.