Miceli started year strong and just kept on going

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Mike Miceli won with his first starter of 2019 and it proved to be a harbinger for the 72-year-old trainer, who has a relatively small stable.

Miceli, a former jockey who in 1974 won the Haskell and Travers aboard Holding Pattern, is enjoying one of his best years in three decades of training. Miceli’s 20 wins from 73 starters and purse earnings of $707,341 this year are second only to his numbers of 2003 when he won 23 races and his horses earned $793,338.

“Usually when you work with 10 or 12 horses, maybe three or four are not ready to run,” Miceli said Wednesday. “Everything came together. I didn’t have any horses that were just occupying a stall. They all seemed to do well. It was kind of gratifying to see that happen for everybody.”

A Dixie Twister, a 6-year-old daughter of Hard Spun, and Mrs. Orb, a 4-year-old daughter of Orb, each won four races this year for Miceli. A Dixie Twister just missed her fifth win of the season when she was beaten a neck in an allowance race here on Nov. 29. As a turf horse, she is getting turned out along with Canarsie Angel, a 2-year-old filly who won a turf maiden race on that same Nov. 29 program.

Mrs. Orb, however, has reeled off three consecutive victories on dirt and is being pointed to the $100,000 Bay Ridge Stakes for New York-breds on Dec. 29.

“It took her [11] starts to break her maiden but she turned the corner and ran a few good races,” Miceli said. “She seemed to blossom from Saratoga to now. She’s got a little more bulk to her.”

While his turf horses will be turned out for the winter, Miceli will have to rely on a smaller group of dirt runners to get him through the season. In addition to Mrs. Orb, he has Love and Love, a filly who was entered in a first-level allowance race on Thursday’s card; the promising 2-year-old filly Banker’s Daughter, who was second in a New York-maiden race on Sunday; and recent acquisition Amos. Amos is a 3-year-old New York-bred daughter of Twirling Candy who is likely to find the winter maiden races a bit kinder than those in which she was running during the summer.

Miceli may also pick up a few horses at the claim box. Owners Larry Roman and George Anthony claimed a few with Miceli earlier this year, including Freudian Sip and Letmetakethiscall.

“They’ve given me a little more action than I had in the past as far as claiming,” Miceli said. “It keeps the ball rolling a little bit.”

This year was fun for Miceli and he doesn’t see himself slowing down anytime soon.

“I always tell my wife we’re on a road,” Miceli said. “When the road comes to an end it’s because you’ve run out of health or you’ve run out of horses. I can’t see the end yet. We’re still on this straight road and we’re just going to enjoy the ride.”