San Luis Rey trainers are top three at Del Mar

Doug O'Neill, Peter Miller, and Richard Baltas all train some of their horses at the San Luis Rey Training Center, and those three trainers were the top three in the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club 2019 summer meet's final trainer standings.

O'Neill had 24 victories during the 36-day meet, Miller saddled 21 winners, and Baltas won 18 races. Phil D'Amato, who also trains some of his horses at San Luis Rey, was fifth with 14 wins.

"I do give a lot of credit to having horses at San Luis Rey," O'Neill said of his trainer championship.

"It's such a tranquil, relaxed setting," O'Neill said. "You're going to have a happier horse being stabled there."

Kevin Habell is the general manager at San Luis Rey. "He runs a really tight ship but a wonderful ship," O'Neill said.

"A great testament to the facility," Miller said the top three trainers and four of the top five having horses at San Luis Rey.

"That is good," Baltas said of the success of the San Luis Rey trainers.

"The atmosphere is really great and the horses seem to do well there," Baltas said. "My better grass horses, they go to San Luis Rey. They seem to do well there."

The trainer championship was the sixth overall for O'Neill at Del Mar. Five of those have been during Del Mar's summer meet, and his most recent one of those before this year was in 2010.

"It's just a tremendous honor, and just so grateful for the season and what the Del Mar management did," O'Neill said.

The horse racing industry worked on improved safety measures following the deaths of 30 horses during the Santa Anita Park meet. This year no horses broke down while racing during the Del Mar summer meet. "They really stepped it up and did a good job," O'Neill said.

O'Neill won the fall meet trainer championship in 2015, so this year's summer meet championship was the first for O'Neill since he began stabling some of his horses at San Luis Rey.

O'Neill credited the work of his team for his trainer championship, and he also noted the value of the staff of the other two San Luis Rey trainers who rounded out the top three of the Del Mar summer meet standings. "Peter Miller, Richard Baltas, they have tremendous teams as well," O'Neill said.

The 24 wins during the summer meet gave O'Neill 376 at Del Mar during the 22 years he has saddled horses where the turf meets the surf. That moved him into the all-time top five; Farrell Jones won 374 races during his 22 years training horses at Del Mar.

O'Neill also had 23 second-place results and 16 third-place finishes among his 128 starts at Del Mar this summer.

Concern about the safety of Santa Anita Park caused Miller to run some of his horses in Kentucky rather than on the Southern California circuit, and Miller's 21 wins along with 13 horses who came in second and 15 entries who finished third were obtained with 87 total starts during the Del Mar summer meet.

"I'm very pleased with the meet," Miller said. "Better than I expected. We have a third of our horses in Kentucky, so it exceeded my expectations."

This is Miller's 17th year having horses at Del Mar. He entered the summer meet with 277 career wins, placing him 11th on the all-time list. On July 25 he won his 281st career race at Del Mar to tie Charlie Whittingham for 10th place and on July 26 Miller won his 282nd Del Mar race to pass Whittingham.

"That was incredible," Miller said. "I'm very honored to pass my mentor."

Miller began his San Luis Rey career as a groom for Whittingham in 1984. "Great role model, hard work and discipline," Miller said of Whittingham.

By the end of the meet Miller had 298 Del Mar wins and moved past Mel Stute into ninth place all-time.

Miller won his first Del Mar trainer championship in 2012. He shared the 2014 summer meet championship with Jerry Hollendorfer, and he also won the 2018 summer meet trainer championship. Del Mar began its fall meet in 2014 and Miller has won the fall trainer championship in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Horses trained by Baltas ran 107 times at Del Mar this summer and his wins were complemented by 14 second-place and 13 third-place finishes.

"Overall we had a very good meet," Baltas said.

"It went great. All the horses stayed safe and we had a good meet," Baltas said. "It's a great step in the right direction."

Baltas first saddled a horse at Del Mar in 1991, although his first trainer win at the track was not until 2004.

"I was just very happy. It's always great to come to Del Mar," Baltas said.

Baltas and D'Amato shared the 2017 summer meet training championship. D'Amato was the leading trainer for the 2016 summer meet.

A victory with San Luis Rey filly Zee Drop in the final race of the year gave D'Amato his 14th victory, one fewer than fourth-place trainer John Sadler.

The four San Luis Rey trainers were also among the top five for the 2018 summer meet. O'Neill was second in wins behind Miller while D'Amato and Baltas had the same number of wins with second-place finishes giving D'Amato fourth and Baltas fifth in the final standings.

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