Tag: Peter Miller

Mackinnon heads a 14-colt field into Friday's Oceanside Stakes, Del Mar's traditional opening day feature. The seaside track opens its 31-day meet Friday. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Del Mar Opening Day Features Sold-Out Stands, Maxed-Out Fields

- 3 min read

Del Mar opens its 83rd season of racing Friday with boosted purses, the customary opening-day sellout crowd, and a sellout field of 14 for the meet’s first feature, the Oceanside Stakes. Lost to history and time is the Hollywood flavor the seaside track enjoyed from the moment Bing Crosby took […]

Trainer Peter Miller, seen here at Del Mar last summer, returns after a six-month hiatus from training Sunday. The embattled trainer insists his break from the barn was a personal decision and not the result of a spate of deaths in his barn. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Trainer Peter Miller Returns After Six Months On Hiatus

- 2 min read

Peter Miller, who hasn’t raced a horse since Nov. 28, returns to the barn for the first time in six months when he sends out 3-year-old gelding Respect the Code for Sunday’s eighth race at Churchill Downs. The California-based trainer, who won nine training titles at Del Mar, took what […]

C Z Rocket's last victory was this score in the Count Fleet. The multiple graded-stakes winner returns to Oaklawn Park for a Saturday allowance. (Image: Coady Photography)

Standout Sprinter C Z Rocket Returns with New Trainer, Lasix

- 3 min read

Between May 25, 2020, and May 31, 2021 — a nine-race stretch — C Z Rocket finished no worse than second. That included seven victories in those nine races. It also incuded two victories at Oaklawn Park, where the 7-year-old, multiple Grade 2 winner wraps up his 2021 campaign on […]

It's not a track that comes to mind for most horseplayers. But New Mexico's Zia Park takes center stage Tuesday for a 10-race, seven-stakes card that attracted some of the sport's stars. (Image: Zia Park Racetrack)

Asmussen, Ortiz, Prat Invade Tiny Zia Park for Land of Enchantment Card

- 3 min read

When it comes to must-see tracks, Zia Park is far off the high-profile path. The New Mexico track isn’t even located in – or near — one of the state’s two high-profile cities, Albuquerque or Santa Fe. But for Tuesday’s Land of Enchantment Stakes card, Zia Park is big enough […]

Mo Forza won back-to-back Del Mar Miles, illustrating why he is one of the best turf milers in North America. He seeks validation there as the 6/5 favorite in Saturday's City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Coolmore)

Standout Miler Mo Forza Likely the Best Turf Horse Under Your Radar

- 3 min read

Mo Forza built himself quite the career running under your radar. One of the best turf milers in the country – or the world, according to trainer Peter Miller – is also one of the best horses you’ve probably never bet. If you have, you’re undoubtedly relishing the windfall this […]

Jockey Tiago Pereira rode Tripoli to Horse of the Meet honors at Del Mar. Tripoli won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic and helped owners Hronis Racing take its sixth Del Mar owners title and fourth in the last five years. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Del Mar Wrap: Nothing Average About Record Average Daily Handle

- 3 min read

Del Mar closed its 82nd summer season with a track record for daily average handle, watching horseplayers wager an average of nearly $18.4 million each day of the 31-day meet. That surpassed last year’s daily average of $17.3 million, which came without fans in the stands thanks to the pandemic. […]

Decorated sprinter C Z Rocket won the Grade 2 Pat O'Brien on this Del Mar track last summer. He look for his first Grade 1 win as the 5/2 favorite in Saturday's Bing Crosby Stakes. (Image: Benoit Photo)

C Z Rocket Takes Off In Search of Elusive Grade 1 in Bing Crosby Stakes

- 4 min read

Considering how many times he’s figured in various race mixes, it defies logic that C Z Rocket comes into Saturday’s Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes lacking a Grade 1 victory. And yet, here he is, one of the West Coast’s top sprinters and owner of 11 victories and nearly $1.4 […]

King Fury's gritty victory in the Lexington Stakes led trainer Kenny McPeek to keep him in the Triple Crown mix. Friday, his patience was rewarded iwtha berth in the Kentucky Derby. (Image: Jonathan Palmer/Keeneland)

Derby Dominoes: King Fury, Keepmeinmind In, Three Others Out

- 3 min read

Two weeks ago, King Fury needed a miracle of falling Kentucky Derby dominoes to get him into the 2021 Kentucky Derby field. On Friday, the Lexington Stakes champion got that miracle. After the defections of Dream Shake and Hozier Friday and Get Her Number’s Saturday defection, King Fury sits comfortably […]

Last time out, Shivaree set the Tampa Bay Downs stakes record en route to winning the Marion County Florida Sire Stakes. The runner-up in last year's Florida Derby returns to action Saturday in the Fred Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream Park. (Image: SV Photography)

The Pegasus Isn’t the Only Stakes Race This Weekend

- 3 min read

Saturday brings us the first two Grade 1 stakes races of 2021: the Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the Pegasus World Cup Turf, coming to you from Gulfstream Park. The Florida track captures this weekend’s stakes spotlight with those two high-profile races, along with five other graded stakes on its […]

Flavien Prat's closing-day victory aboard juvenile Dr. Schivel in the Del Mar Futurity gave the rider the Del Mar jockey title. The San Diego-area track boosted its handle 8% despite no fans and fewer race dates. (Image: Benoit Photography)

Del Mar Defies the Odds with Increased Handle, Decreased Racing Days

- 3 min read

Del Mar’s 2020 summer meet ran with 25% fewer racing days than there were in 2019, and without spectators. Even so, the seaside San Diego-area track increased its betting handle 8% from last year. Race-starved Californians combined with action-hungry bettors outside the state to boost the track’s handle to $466.68 […]