Miller speaks at Hall of Champions luncheon

San Luis Rey Downs Thoroughbred Training Center trainer Peter Miller was one of the panelists at a San Diego Hall of Champions luncheon October 15.

The Sports at Lunch speakers also included horse owners Martin and Pam Wygod, who send their horses to San Luis Rey Downs for early training. The other panelists were syndicated handicapper Jon Lindo, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club announcer Trevor Denman, and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club general manager Joe Harper.

“Horse racing needs venues like this. We need our space and our place, and we appreciate it very much,” Miller said.

The Hall of Champions plans to add a horse racing exhibit at the Balboa Park museum. “We’ve been having ongoing discussions about an exhibit,” Harper said. “We’ve always wanted to put racing in its best light.”

Lindo, who lives in Carlsbad, noted that interest in horse racing has not declined. In recent years off-track betting has adversely affected track attendance, but total wagering handles have actually increased. “They’re still playing the game, at just different locations,” Lindo said.

Miller won a total of 11 races during the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club meet, including the Del Mar Debutante with Set Play. “Peter had an outstanding meet at Del Mar this year,” Denman said.

The Sports at Lunch included footage of the Del Mar Debutante race won by Set Play and the Del Mar Handicap win of After Market, a Wygod horse whose pre-racing career included training at San Luis Rey Downs under Byron Hendricks and Jacque Fulton.

The Del Mar Debutante provided Miller with his first Grade I stakes win. “That was just a tremendous day for us,” Miller said. “That was a thrill.”

Miller noted that jockey Brice Blanc, who rode Set Play in the Del Mar Debutante, came to San Luis Rey Downs for a six-furlong workout which took Set Play 1:12 3/5 to complete.

“We were both ecstatic,” Miller said. “If everything goes well the next week we’ll head to New Jersey Saturday.”

Set Play is expected to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies race October 27. This year’s Breeders’ Cup races will be held October 26-27 at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. After Market is expected to run in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on October 27 and Idiot Proof, another horse owned by the Wygods and formerly trained by Hendricks and Fulton, is slated for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint that day.

Idiot Proof holds the six-furlong record at Monmouth Park. “He obviously likes that racetrack,” Lindo said.

The 40-year-old Miller has been training at San Luis Rey Downs for approximately 15 years. 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.

“After 25 years I’m an overnight success,” Miller said.

At one time Miller primarily prepared horses for racing rather than trained them for specific races. “In the last couple of years I’ve started to race a lot more horses,” he said.

Set Play is owned by Gerson Racing and Charleville Stables, and members of the Gerson family were present at the Sports at Lunch. “Owners have given me the opportunity to train some nice horses, and so far so good,” Miller said.

The 2007 Del Mar Thoroughbred Meet was the first with the Polytrack synthetic surface. “I love the Polytrack, but I had a great meet,” Miller said.

“All kidding aside, I thought the track was very safe and very fair,” Miller said. “I actually had more problems with horses running on the turf than on the Polytrack.”

Miller was asked about the pros and cons of training at San Luis Rey Downs, which has retained its dirt workout track while the three major tracks in Southern California have switched to synthetic surface.

“We’re very fortunate to have one of the very few safe dirt surfaces left,” Miller said. “Fortunately for us we’ve been, knock on wood, very lucky to not injure very many horses at San Luis Rey.”

Miller noted that the advantages of San Luis Rey Downs include preparing horses for dirt races outside of the Southern California circuit. “I’m hoping maybe I have a little advantage in the Juvenile Fillies,” Miller said of the upcoming Breeders’ Cup race. “I know my filly does like the dirt.”

The transition from dirt to Polytrack didn’t affect Miller at Del Mar. “As for the cons I don’t have any,” he said of training at San Luis Rey Downs.

San Luis Rey Downs trainers Paula Capestro, Greg James, and Laura Wohlers combined for an additional five wins at Del Mar, including the Rancho Bernardo Handicap stakes win by Capestro-trained River’s Prayer.

Other horses are stabled year-round at Fairplex Park in Pomona, which holds a three-week fair meet in September, and at the Santa Anita Park and Hollywood Park racetracks. Hollywood Park is expected to close after the 2008 meets.

“It’s a very serious problem and it’s been facing us for quite a few years,” Martin Wygod said. “I think it’s going to cause a major problem in the state of California.”

Wygod noted that there is no room at Santa Anita to stable the horses currently at Hollywood Park. “I think a lot of major owners and trainers are seriously thinking of moving out to the East Coast,” he said.

Hall of Champions president Al Kidd believes the Hall of Champions had not previously hosted a Sports at Lunch with horse racing speakers. “It was a lot of fun, and honored to be a part of it,” Miller said.

“That was a good session today,” said Hall of Champions founder Bob Breitbard. “It’s not often you get people like that in there.”