Miller retaining leading trainer position at Del Mar

It is rare if not unprecedented for a San Luis Rey Downs Thoroughbred Training Center trainer to be leading the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club meet in wins, but Peter Miller has held the top trainer’s spot since the first day of the meet.

Miller had two wins on Opening Day July 18, added two winners the following day, and posted two more winners the following week. The six wins in the first two weeks matched Miller’s total for the entire 2006 Del Mar meet, and he added a seventh victory early in the third week.

“It’s great. It’s exciting. It’s fun. Don’t know how long it can last,” Miller said.

Miller credits his success to hard work and fast horses. He noted that his hard work has helped him to get the fast horses.

The 40-year-old Miller has been training at San Luis Rey Downs for approximately 15 years. “It’s a great training facility,” he said.

Miller grew up in Beverly Hills and graduated from Beverly Hills High School. While many of his classmates went to school for white-collar professions, Miller chose to follow his dream of becoming a horse trainer and started grooming horses for legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham.

Miller also served as the racing manager for Golden Eagle Farm from 2003 to 2005 in addition to training at San Luis Rey Downs. In 2006 he won two stakes races; Pinata captured the Landaluce Stakes at Hollywood Park and Fast Parade set a track record on the Del Mar turf course while winning the Green Flash Handicap. He had 30 wins in 141 starts in 2006.

Fast Parade has since won the Grade II Nearctic States at Toronto’s Woodbine track, and earlier this year Miller saddled Thoroughly to a win in the Willard L. Proctor Memorial Stakes at Hollywood Park.

“We’ve just got to keep working hard and keep training and win the races,” Miller said.