[Kasept]

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.