These are busy, but exciting and happy times for trainer Peter Miller.
Miller, 45, and his wife Lani became first-time parents when they
welcomed Jacob Ellis to the family six weeks ago. Also keeping him
occupied this summer will be the 30 horses he has at Del Mar and another
30 at Hollywood Park.
The Carlsbad resident, with two career stakes victories at Del Mar,
will have a chance to double that total when he sends out Guidopanzini
and Majestic City in divisions of Wednesday’s Oceanside Stakes.
Miller’s stable has accounted for more than $1 million in earnings
each year since 2006, and is coming off a best of 55 wins and more than
$2.2 million in earnings in 2011. A breakthrough moment was his first
Grade I victory, with the filly Set Play in the 2007 Del Mar Debutante.
Guidopanzini, a son of Giacomo owned by the Lanni Family Trust, goes
in the sixth-race, first division of the $100,000 mile turf event. The
chestnut gelding, 20-1 on the Oceanside opening line, notched his
initial victory in his fifth career start on May 20 at Hollywood Park
and has two fifth-place finishes since.
“He broke his maiden well and has pretty decent tries in the two
allowance races,” Miller said. “He’s training forwardly and we think
he’ll run a big race.”
Majestic City, owned by the Bloom Racing Stable LLC partnership
group headed by Jeff Bloom of Oceanside, earned $245,570 in a 2-year-old
campaign highlighted by a victory in the Grade III Hollywood Juvenile
Championship and runner-up finishes in the Grade I Del Mar Futurity
(disqualified to third) and Grade I Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.
The City Zip colt was third in a turf sprint against older horses in
June at Hollywood Park, but didn’t handle the dirt surface at Charles
Town in a $400,000 stakes at the end of the month. Majestic City is 10-1
on the opening line.
“He looks good and he’s training well,” Bloom said. “We know he’s in
against some good horses. It’s tough to say which division (of the
Oceanside) might be the tougher one.”
The Bloom Racing Stable has six horses ready for the meeting and looks to run its first 2-year-old, A Red Tie Day, on Saturday.