MILLER: ‘I NEED A BREAK’
Trainer Peter Miller on Friday afternoon reiterated it’s “strictly my call” and not any one thing that led to his decision to step away from his present role in horse racing following the end of the Del Mar fall meeting.
“I’ve been contemplating this for a year and a half,” said Miller, 55. “I am burned out for a number of reasons. I need a break. This is a good time going into the long, sixmonth Santa Anita meeting.
“I love training horses and the sport, but I think the industry is a disaster. I love the horses, but the industry is a mess. I’m hoping the federal legislation helps ... straighten things out. Only time will tell.”
Miller, who lives in Encinitas, announced his decision Thursday in a statement. He has been a major part of the discussion on safety in thoroughbred racing after six of his horses died in the past 11 months — twice as many as any other California trainer.
Animal rights’ activists brought up Miller’s name at Wednesday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting, just three weeks after
PETA wrote a letter to CHRB members asking that Miller’s license be suspended.
Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields banned trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in 2019 after six of his horses died in a similar span. Del Mar also tried to ban Hollendorfer but was prevented from doing so by a court order. At the time, Miller called the decision by the tracks “disgraceful.”
“It’s a run of bad luck. It could happen to any of us,” Miller said in July 2019.
On Friday, Miller said “there was no pressure from anybody” to step away from training horses.
He said a return to a fulltime schedule as a trainer is undecided. Ruben Alvarado, his longtime assistant, is taking over for him.
“I don’t know when, if ever, I’ll resume the schedule I’ve kept for 35 years,” he said. “It’s open-ended to when and how much I come back. I’m staying involved as a consultant and racing manager to my owners. I will give assistance to my assistant trainers.
“I might come back with 40 horses. I might decide I’ve had enough. I don’t know where this is going to take me. I just know for a number of reasons, I need to step back.
“My two sons are 7 and 9. That’s the main reason to do this. And my wife. I want to spend more time with my family. I don’t want to spend all my time at the race track, where I spend as much time as I can. This is a 365-day-ayear job.
“I want more time with my kids, my wife. I haven’t skied in five years. I haven’t been to Cabo (San Lucas) in three years. I’d like to play more golf, do some traveling.
“My owners want me to stay. I can’t right now. I really don’t know where the future takes me. I know I’ll be working a lot less and enjoying a lot more family time.”
Miller has won the last two Del Mar summer training titles and nine overall at the track.
Jockeys celebrate
Two jockeys had something to celebrate Friday at Del Mar.
Juan Hernandez rode three winners for a third straight race day to climb into a tie for the fall meeting jockey lead with Flavien Prat with 11 wins. Hernandez has won nine of his last 19 races, a run that also includes three second-place finishes and two thirds.
And Kyle Frey, who like Hernandez is 29 and came to Del Mar from Golden Gate Fields, rode the 1,000th winner of his career aboard Tizlightning ($4.80) in Friday’s third race.
“I feel great joy in this win,” said Frey, who opened the summer season at Del Mar with plans to return to Golden Gate after a couple weeks. He has remained in Southern California.
“I was asked about the fuss of the pressure of reaching this milestone,” Frey continued. “I really didn’t feel that. I’m just happy I got it done.”
Eight Rings back
Two weeks after finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, the Bob Bafferttrained Eight Rings returns to the track today as the morning-line favorite in the $100,000, Grade III Native Diver Stakes.
Baffert also has Azul Coast and Ax Man in the eight-horse field, which includes the John Shirreffstrained Midcourt, who won the Native Diver in 2019 and finished second to Extra Hope last year.