Mack Miller has passed away
 

Hall of Fame trainer Mack Miller dies at age 89
By Mike Welsch

Hall of Fame trainer MacKenzie “Mack” Miller died Saturday morning at the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center in Lexington, Ky., where he had been since having a stroke on Dec. 5. Miller was 89 years old.

Miller is perhaps best known for training Sea Hero to victory in the 1993 Kentucky Derby. Miller also conditioned such outstanding horses as Fit to Fight, who swept the New York Handicap Triple in 1984 with victories in the Grade 1 Metropolitan, Suburban, and Brooklyn handicaps; Java Gold who beat older horses in the 1987 Whitney before coming back two weeks later to defeat Alysheba, Bet Twice, and Cryptoclearance in the Travers, and 1974 Epsom Derby winner Snow Knight, who was named champion male turf horse the following year.

Miller was also an accomplished breeder. He was the co-breeder of the 1981 champion female turf horse De La Rose as well as the 1999 champion 2-year-old filly Chilukki.

Java Gold’s victories in the Whitney and Travers coincided with Miller’s induction into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame during the same memorable summer of 1987.

Miller, a native of Versailles, Ky., served in the Air Force during World War II. He then began his racing career working at Calumet Farm in nearby Lexington. He took out his own trainer’s license in 1949. Among his clients over the years were E. P. Taylor, Charles Engelhard, and Paul Mellon, for whom he trained Sea Hero.

Miller retired from training in 1995.

“He was the nicest man I was ever around,” said Hall of Fame jockey Don Brumfield. “I didn’t ride a whole lot for him in the afternoon but I did ride a few stakes winners for him. One I can recall right off the bat was Assagai, who won the Long Branch at Monmouth.”

A memorial service will be held at the Versailles Presbyterian Church on Main Street in Versailles at noon on Tuesday.

He was a giant...the game will miss him.

When I started watching horse racing on television, Mack Miller was one of the first human personalities I learned about. He seemed like a really nice guy, and he'll definitely be missed. RIP.

Sad to hear...Sport needs more classy outfits like Rokeby stable. Grey walking jackets for the grooms, class all the way....Was at the top of the stretch with a huge wager on Java Gold when Pat Day made his move in the Travers...great great race... Sorry to hear a legend of our sport has passed, but maybe he is having a hell of a conversation with Woody right about now..

Scat OUT

java gold....talk about an underrated horse........

RIP

You must have missed King Glorious's reign on this message board.

Yes - supposedly he was much better than Sunday Silence and Easy Goer as a 3yo. I hope he unloaded at 2/1 in the Ohio Derby.

After viewing his two route victories (I believe they're on youtube), you can't help but laugh at the notion that he could hang with Sunday Silence or Easy Goer.

By the way, the poster King Glorious was also in love with Java Gold (his avatar IIRC).

Racing isn't restricted to 9f races and longer. What I said on here was the same thing Chris McCarron said before and that was that if you go 9f or 10f, he would probably get beaten by EG and SS but that at 8f, they wouldn't know what hit them. He rode SS too. What I said was that I've seen other instances of lone speed and that I'd love to have seen him get his shot at them.

Anyway, Java Gold was one of the two best horses I've ever seen and Mack Miller was one of the nicest guys I've ever met. If not for him, I probably wouldn't even still be a racing fan today.

http://www.aikenracinghalloffame.com...e-Members.html

I was looking into Aiken and came across this site, immediately noticing the influence of Mack Miller. I guess Sea Hero didn't go there. I have to think that whatever else happened in his career, wins in the Champagne, Derby, and Travers would've gotten him in their HOF. Midshipman made it and Quality Road was their 2009 HOY.

I was interested to learn that Gallorette and Kelso went through Aiken. There are some nice pictures of the various horses and pdf's of their race records.

The rules for induction to their HOF (on that website) states that the horse had to have been recognized as a champion. Sea Hero never won an Eclipse.

Ah, I was thinking he had for some reason, but now I remember of course he didn't get the 3yo Eclipse, Prairie Bayou (RIP) did. You'd think a Derby/Travers winner would have a good shot at it, but consistency was not Sea Hero's constant companion.

He might've gotten Aiken-trained HOTY, but I'm not sure what other horses racing that year would be up for it. I had to go back and look at who was HOTY in 1993--Kotashaan.