posted July 10, 2008 at 19:28 EST in Triple Crown Betting Trends

There is nothing like Miller Time in certain circles. It could be Johnny Miller, the former golfing great who has more opinions than a know it all computer, those that love the great debate of ‘taste great, less filling, or Reggie Miller, the former great 3-point assassin for the Indiana Pacers who has hung up his Nikes.

Among the equine set, Peter Miller is the drink that quenches of late and horse betting enthusiasts that get on board with his stock early and often figure to get paid. He had a break out meeting last year at Del Mar and the feeling is he’ll be a force there right back.

Miller is a new face to some and an old hack to others. He has been around for decades, but has been in the background most of his career.

He once rubbed horses for Charlie Whittingham and came back last year down at San Luis Rey Downs to get horses ready to run. He went to jockey school 30 years ago, and he handled some nice horses for the Bald Eagle including the ultra talented Palace Music.

Miller started training the mid 80s, was sidelined by the jewelry business, and had been prepping horses at San Luis Rey for good horsemen like David Hofmans and Vlado Cerin.

This longshot last Sunday is not the first and it won’t be the last for this guy.

The beach last year was so good to him he carried on with the momentum for over a year now. The fact that his base of operations is San Luis Rey, a hop skip and a jump from Del Mar, gives him an edge somewhat on the climate factors that always come into play at the beach.

Last season he tied for 5th in the standings with another clever young trainer in Craig Dollase and he popped with 21% of his starters, another 10 were in the money in the 53 he sent to post.

Fans caught on quickly to the hot trainer as his winners only average 7-2 last year but there are some key things horse bettors can look to this meet to try to get that extra edge.

Expect the Miller runners to be live off the layoff. He’s good with runners gone 6 months or more but when he brings them back within 6 weeks he is even more potent.

He’s not big on quick turn arounds but very solid with young stock and if Miller drops a horse from maiden special weight to maiden claiming, that’s a sign that the horse is set for a peak performance.

Good horsemen have the ability to keep horses going good and winning in bunches and Miller has that knack too.

One of his most potent moves during last year’s Del Mar meet was when he cut his runners back from routing to sprinting. He’s adept going to the other way also but the edge that horse bettors can point to on the cut back is that his horses are surely fit.

The final thing, and one facet that should be in every horse bettor’s arsenal, at Del Mar is to look for value. Horses are over bet every day and there is value lurking out there.

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