Peter Miller closes in on another training title at home at Del Mar

Most racing fans acquainted with Peter Miller’s vocation astir apt cognize he’s won 5 Breeders’ Cup races, is closing successful connected a ninth Del Mar grooming rubric and has called the Southern California circuit his location since winning his archetypal contention successful 1988 astatine Santa Anita.

What galore Miller followers mightiness not cognize is this — his lone Kentucky Derby starters, Comma to the Top successful 2011 and Gray Magician successful 2019, some finished past successful the Run for the Roses.

“Not excessively galore guys tin accidental they’ve tally past doubly successful the Kentucky Derby,” Miller joked during a telephone interrogation this week arsenic the 54-year-old Encinitas nonmigratory took clip retired from his dense docket to speech astir different palmy Del Mar meet, his apprenticeships with the precocious Charlie Whittingham and Mike Mitchell and a aboriginal that had him and his woman Lani reasoning astir leaving the authorities astatine 1 time.

Miller, comfortably up of John Sadler (21-15) for starring Del Mar trainer arsenic the summertime conscionable headed into its last 5 days, has historically fared good astatine the seaside way since his archetypal rubric successful 2012.

He lives lone a Shohei Ohtani-sized homer distant from Del Mar with his woman and 2 sons, and helium admits helium aims for the Del Mar summertime and autumn meets each year.

“There’s benignant of a territorial benignant of home-field vantage situation,” Miller said. “You privation to bash good successful beforehand of your friends and family. And this is home, truthful it’s a location game. You wanna support your turf.

“Del Mar’s my favourite track, by a agelong way. The weather’s great. The ambiance is great.

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club does a large occupation moving it. It’s a premier conscionable for Southern California. I deliberation everyone wants to bash good astatine Del Mar.”

Miller grew up wanting to beryllium a jockey, but helium was told he’d turn excessively big. So helium did beauteous overmuch what helium could to enactment successful the business. He walked horses and became a groom for Mitchell erstwhile helium was 13 and went to enactment successful the Whittingham barn aft graduating from precocious school.

“I learned arsenic overmuch astir beingness and being a antheral arsenic I did astir horses (with Whittingham),” helium said. “I was 17 erstwhile I started moving there, was benignant of a wayward young man, and I truly learned a batch astir discipline, hard enactment and what it takes to succeed. It was astir similar being successful the subject for me. He was a Marine Corps man, was a drill sergeant successful the Marines, and helium ran a choky ship. I rapidly learned if I wanted to enactment successful the barn I had to get to enactment aboriginal and enactment each day, and it was a truly bully beingness lesson.”

From Mitchell, helium learned a batch astir caring for horses that possibly weren’t arsenic dependable arsenic the stakes standouts Whittingham trained.

“Mike was a phenomenal horseman, truly an underrated horseman,” Miller said. “He taught maine a batch astir dealing with the horses with issues due to the fact that helium was chiefly a claiming trainer. He had mostly horses that had their problems, and helium was large dealing with those.”

It was erstwhile Santa Anita had its problems with fatalities during its 2018-19 winter-spring play that Miller and his woman debated whether they wanted to stay successful Southern California.

“My woman and I considered moving backmost to Kentucky erstwhile each the worldly happened astatine Santa Anita, but I’d astir apt discontinue earlier I moved,” helium said. “This is home. I’m hoping they get their enactment straight. The national authorities is going to beryllium taking implicit present soon (the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act takes effect successful July 2022) truthful the CHRB volition beryllium rather neutered. All the things that they’ve done volition truly go a moot point. It volition each beryllium what the feds decide.”

As for Miller’s 2 19th-place finishes astatine Churchill Downs connected the archetypal Saturday successful May, helium said a resume with nary Derby victories doesn’t fuss him 1 bit.

“It’s (Derby) successful the backmost of my mind,” helium said. “It’s ne'er been 1 of those things that was truly conscionable a large goal. I’ve beauteous overmuch surpassed astir of the goals that I astir apt set. No 1 was betting connected me. I’m beauteous satisfied. Yeah, it would beryllium large if I had a equine that took maine there. I’ve been there. I haven’t done well, but if it happens great, and if it doesn’t it’s not a barometer connected my career.

“I deliberation the Derby is precise overrated. It’s seldom won by the champion horse, it’s usually tally connected an disconnected contention way with astir of the horses that don’t wanna spell that far. Look, it’s a large spectacle and it’s America’s biggest race, but it’s not 1 of those things that I’ve got to do.”

Miller, for now, volition conscionable ore connected trying to adhd to his database of Breeders’ Cup victories and grooming titles.

Follow Art Wilson connected Twitter @Sham73