Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
HONG KONG Stormy Liberal has tough task
HONG KONG – Californiabased trainer Peter Miller has good reason to believe Stormy Liberal’s trip to Hong Kong will produce a better outcome than Miller’s first foray into the Hong Kong International Races.
In 2016, Miller sent Fast Parade here for the Hong Kong Sprint. The horse never got to run, scratched by officials from the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
“It didn’t work out,” Miller said. “There was a bit of a disagreement. We’ve put that all behind us now.”
Stormy Liberal starts in the same race Fast Parade was supposed to contest, but the Hong Kong Sprint has come a long way in the last 11 years. The race now is worth $2.37 million and is one of four Group 1’s, along with the Hong Kong Cup, the Hong Kong Mile, and the Hong Kong Vase comprising an event which has had its global stature balloon alongside its value.
Much, too, has changed for Miller since he shipped here with Fast Parade. Stormy Liberal exits a win the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, one of two Breeders’ Cup victories this year for Miller, who also captured the BC Sprint with Roy H. Miller won 30 races and one graded stakes race, and had stable earnings of $1.2 million in 2006. With a few weeks left in 2017, Miller this year has won 118 races, seven graded stakes, and his stable’s runners have earned more than $7.1 million. The earnings are a career best, and with one more win Miller also will set a personal best for wins in a season.
“There were a lot of lean years in there, believe me,” said Miller, 51. “We’re living the dream right now.”
The Hong Kong International Races have changed, and Miller has changed, but what hasn’t changed is the lack of American success on the Hong Kong turf.
The first American horses came to race here in the early 1990s, and through the early 2000s, Americans were fairly regular participants, but the numbers have dwindled since the turn of the century, and a big part of the problem is the American horses weren’t doing any good. Yes, there were plenty of U.S. shippers that didn’t really belong, but top horses like Little Mike and Kip Deville also failed to fire.
In all, North American horses have made 56 starts in the Hong Kong International Races and come up with just two wins. Glen Kate won here for trainer Bill Shoemaker way back in 1993, and Val’s Prince, ridden by Cash Asmussen for trainer Jimmy Picou, captured the Hong Kong Cup when it still was a Group 2 in 1997. The last American horse to earn a placing was Morluc, who thrived at Sha Tin, finishing second in the Hong Kong Sprint in 2000 and 2001 when the race was a straight-course five furlongs.
Now, the Sprint is 1,200 meters (six furlongs) around one bend, and that should suit Stormy Liberal, who won the five-furlong BC Turf Sprint at a distance short of his best. Moreover, Miller already has a turf sprinter with some international success this year, having shipped Richard’s Boy to the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint in March in Dubai to finish a close, creditable fifth.
Miller is not afraid to hit the road with his better horses. Roy H won the True North on the Belmont Stakes undercard, and Miller made other East Coast excursions this year in addition to the Dubai trip. It’s not for lack of boldness that Miller has climbed to the penthouse.
Miller had his first starter as a trainer in 1987, but after 17 years of dabbling, Miller had but 21 wins behind him. He had no starters at all between 1997 and 2004. Miller groomed, broke babies, prepped horses for sales, and trained second stringers for major California outfits at San Luis Rey Downs. For a half-decade in the early aughts, Miller worked as an exercise rider between 6 and 10 in the morning, went to the gym, changed, and then worked from 11 to 6 at a jewelry store he owned.
“It was all kind of a blur,” he said. “I hustled.”
Then Miller got connected with Sean Gerson’s Gerson Racing, and through that association met Gary Barber, an energetic owner for whom Miller still trains. His client base swelled, and Miller had his first 50-win season in 2010. In 2012, he won 77, and his numbers have continued climbing.
“I’m passionate about it,” said Miller, who has two young children in addition to a sprawling stable. “This is not an easy business. If you’re not in 110 percent, don’t get in the game.”
Miller trains Stormy Liberal for Gary Hartunian’s Rockingham Ranch, and on the surface, the horse is a solid fit for the Hong Kong Sprint. Stormy Liberal has won five of his last six starts and has excelled running about 6 1/2 furlongs “down the hill” at Santa Anita. His combination of positional speed and a good kick should suit the style of racing here, and Miller has given Stormy Liberal three works right-handed, or clockwise, to prepare him for the direction of travel in Hong Kong.
“He hit his leads right on cue, never missed a beat,” said Miller, who has not missed a beat rising toward the top of the training ranks and who has a chance Sunday to break the long American drought in Hong Kong.