Miller hits the accelerator pedal and takes lead in trainer standings
DEL MAR, Calif. – Peter Miller had six wins at Del Mar from Thursday to Sunday to take a commanding lead in the trainers’ standings. Miller has won 10 races, well clear of Bob Baffert ,who is second with five wins.
After the first two weeks of the meeting, Miller had 4 wins from 33 starters. He won with 6 of 21 runners last week. Miller leads all trainers with 54 starters at the meet.
While Miller plans to remain active, he does not believe he can maintain last week’s level of success.
“This is a very competitive meet,” he said. “I think 25 or less might win it. We’re going to run. We’re not stopping now.”
Miller won his fourth training title at a Del Mar summer meeting last year, with 28 victories, eight more than runner-up Phil D’Amato. Miller won the title at the 2018 meeting with 31 wins, while Doug O’Neill needed only 24 wins to win the title in the summer of 2019.
Miller plans to run Laura’s Light in Saturday’s Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on turf. Owned by Gary Barber, Laura’s Light is a five-time stakes winner who was sixth in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney Stakes after a wide trip at Gulfstream Park on July 3.
Laura’s Light will likely face Charmaine’s Mia in the Yellow Ribbon. Charmaine’s Mia won three consecutive graded stakes on turf at Santa Anita from early January to early April before a sixth-place finish behind Maxim Rate in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita on May 31.
“It will be tough with Charmaine’s Mia in there,” Miller said.
Maxim Rate is a candidate for the Yellow Ribbon, along with Bodhicitta, Brooke, Dogtag, and Raymundo’s Secret.
The Miller-trained Wyfire is nominated to the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf for 3-year-olds on Sunday. Wyfire was fourth after a troubled start in an allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on turf on July 17.
Miller has won two stakes at the meeting, including the $175,500 Real Good Deal Stakes for 3-year-old statebreds last Friday with None Above the Law. Miller said None Above the Law is likely to run in a stakes at the end of the meeting, possibly in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 4.