Miller is 'full strength' but doubts a 5th Del Mar trainer's title
With his six-month sabbatical over and suspension served, Peter Miller said he is back at "full strength" for the Del Mar summer meet, but a third straight trainer's title and fifth overall might be a long shot.
The 55-year-old conditioner sent out 10 starters during the first two days of the Del Mar stand and won once. C Z Rocket, whom Miller claimed for $40,000 in 2020 at Oaklawn Park, pushed his career earnings to more than $1.57 million when winning an allowance/optional claimer on Saturday in his first start since Jan. 14 at Oaklawn.
On Sunday, Miller has six horses entered, including Indian Peak in the featured $100,000 Wickerr Stakes.
Last year, Miller won the Del Mar trainer's title with 26 wins from 144 starts, an 18 percent strike rate. Miller said he has about 70 horses stabled in Southern California between Del Mar and San Luis Rey Downs training center, which is a typical amount for the barn.
"We're at full strength and that says a lot about the loyalty of my clients, but I don't know," Miller said of a trainer's title. "We've got a lot of young horses, so that makes it a little harder. We should have a good meet, but it's a numbers game. I don't know if I have enough claimers to win the title."
The official return of Miller on the Southern California racing scene began June 25. Last November, Miller announced he was taking a "temporary hiatus" from training and that assistant Ruben Alvarado would take over the bulk of his Southern California stable. Miller said he would stay connected to the barn as a racing manager or owner's liaison.
"I had some much-needed time off from training, and we're ready to go," he said.
Unfortunately for Miller, not all agreed he had actually stopped training during his self-imposed hiatus – most notably, the California Horse Racing Board, which filed a complaint May 23 alleging he had been performing training duties since last December.
On June 4, six days after starting his first horse of the year at Churchill Downs, Miller by mutual agreement was suspended seven days and fined $10,000 by Santa Anita stewards for "program training" horses listed in Alvarado's name.
"It's not even worthy of comment," the trainer told Horse Racing Nation of the complaint and suspension.
Miller served his days and had his first California starter at Los Alamitos. During the brief meet, which ended July 10, Miller went 2-for-17.
Alvarado, whom a CHRB complaint said "acknowledged that he is aware Miller has been conducting these duties," was suspended from July 1 to July 12. Alvarado remains a top assistant.
A five-time Breeders' Cup winner, Miller expects to compete this Saturday in his first Grade 1 since last November's Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, when Mo Forza (Mile) and C Z Rocket (Sprint) finished off the board. He said 4-year-old Get Her Number, who won the American Pharoah (G1) as a juvenile, would go in the $400,000 Bing Crosby (G1) at Del Mar. The six-furlong dash is a "win and you're in" for this fall's Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland.
Get Her Number was third in the Triple Bend (G2) at Santa Anita in late May while with Alvarado and returned June 25 for Miller at Churchill Downs and won a third-level allowance going seven furlongs.
Others known to be targeting the six-furlong Bing Crosby are American Theorem, winner of the Triple Bend, and Brickyard Ride, who had reeled off four-straight stakes wins, including the Kona Gold (G3) at Santa Anita, before failing as the favorite in the Triple Bend.
According to Equibase, entering Saturday's action Miller had saddled 1,341 winners and accrued more than $69.51 million in purse earnings dating to 1987.