Summerveld trainer Mike Miller only has Paul Lafferty and Justin Snaith standing between himself and victory in the opening race at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on April Fool’s day, today.
In a race that takes couplings to a potential Guiness Book Of Records level, the veteran saddles 9 of the 12 remaining runners for 10 different owners in the Bet With Tabgold-Intelligent Bet! Juvenile Plate to be run over 1400m. This is the Bipot opener.
Paul Lafferty saddles two runners, Justin Snaith saddles one – who is also the favourite – and the balance are Mike Miller flagbearers.
Sterling Miller and longstanding owner Tony Jelinski lead Havana Moon (Tristan Godden) in after his victory last time (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Questioned on how the yard would cope with so many runners to saddle, Sterling Miller told the Sporting Post that it helped that it was the opening race on the card and that ‘our whole team would be on duty’.
Asked to give us their stable elect, Sterling said that Havana Moon and Mister Nibbles were definitely their picks.
“I don’t see a lot of pace in the race, so Tristan (Godden) could well find himself out front on Havana. Moon. Mister Nibbles is also worth including. I’d be surprised to see one of the 50-1’s pop up. They are looking for more ground,” he added.
Mister Nibbles is priced up at 8-1, and looks the potential value, based on that word of confidence.
Only two of the 12 runners are winners – Havana Moon and the filly Discerning are both from the Miller yard.
Hollywoodbets have priced Snaith’s R700 000 Cape Premier Sale purchase Great Plains up as a 18-10 favourite after his 6,10 length unplaced debut effort behind Little Ballerina in the Cape Slipper on Met day.
Second on the boards is the Miller galloper Havana Moon (22-10), who became his sire Last Winter’s first winner when shedding his maiden tag at his third start over the Hollywoodbets Scottsville 1200m on 20 March. As a winner, the R140 000 KwaZulu-Natal Yearling Sale graduate has to give Snaith’s Great Plains 3kgs, but is infinitely better drawn at pole position.
The entire field is trying 1400m for the first time.
But it’s worth noting that Havana Moon’s dam, the Oratorio mare Seek Moon Magic, is a half sister to Gr3 winner Cat And The Moon, who produced the Gr1-placed stakes winner Light Of The Moon. They both went a trip, so Havana Moon, who showed plenty of speed last time to win over the straight course, could well go all the way again over the extra 200m.
Third favourite at 5-1 is Lafferty’s Ideal World colt View Of The World, who was slow away on debut before running a 3,40 length third to Kalahari Roller in a six horse field over the minimum cut at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
The late Peter Kannemeyer always preached that when a trainer fancied a horse and wanted to give an owner some confidence, the worst thing to do was have a stablemate in the same race, as they have a habit of spoiling the party. With ten owners, including himself, and a nice spread, Mike Miller’s post-race analysis could make for interesting listening!
It is conceivable that if the Miller runners had to fill the first nine places, that an entry in the Guiness Book of World Records could be on the cards.
In 2019 a new world-record holder for all-time career training victories was claimed by the Peruvian-based veteran Juan Suarez Villarroel, when he saddled the 9 446th winner of his career.
In our world of very different dynamics, Justin Snaith is approaching 3900 winners, Paul Lafferty is nearing 790 and Mike Miller 560.
Just for interest sake, we could not track the trainer with the most horses in a race, and Sterling Miller confirmed that 9 was their record number.
But the most runners in a single horse race was the 4249 achieved by the Federation of Mongolian Horse Racing Sport and Trainers during a race in Khui Doloon Khudag , Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on 10 August 2013.
A total of 4279 horses started the race and 30 were deducted from the final total as they did not finish. The race covered a distance of 18 km. The youngest rider was 7 years old and oldest one was 79.
The Grand Heritage would be our biggest field capacity race at 28 starters.
- The first is off at 12h40.
