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Mike Miller not only won the first baby race of the KZN season yet again at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday, but he did the one-two-three with the filly Siesta Sunset (Querari), the colt Holds The Key (What A Winter) and the colt Atlantic Breeze (Captain Of All). (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

The racing public will be looking forward to seeing Quid Pro Quo out again and they can also look forward to seeing her full sister, Dee Dee’s Delight, an unraced two-year-old who is being readied in the Summerveld yard of Mike Miller.

Meanwhile, Mike was once again to the fore on Sunday in the first KZN baby race of the season, which he wins virtually every year, and, furthermore, the yard’s crack filly Just Reckless has strengthened and improved and should have a fine season.

Sterling Miller said about Dee Dee’s Delight, “She is quirky like Quid Pro Quo, so she has a lead pony everyday, but she’s very nice. She is doing everything right at the moment. I don’t think she will be an early juvenile. She is definitely improving as she goes along, but she is not a ball of speed and is definitely looking for 1200m, 1400m and 1600m. She is just like her sister.”

He believed she would be out by the end of February to the beginning of March.

Sterling added, “She’s looking extremely cheap now, we picked her up for only R340,000.”

The sale, the BSA KZN Yearling Sale, came at the right time as it was after Quid Pro Quo’s Gr 1 Allan Robertson victory and before she had proved that was no fluke by winning both the Gr 2 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper over 1400m and the Gr 1 Douglas Whyte Thekwini Stakes over 1600m to become the first in history to do that treble.

On Sunday the Miller yard achieved the one-two-three in KZN’s first baby race of the year to restore normalcy as their perennial winning of this race was interrupted for the first time in a while last year when Louis Goosen’s Ibhele touched off the Miller-trained Fine One.

The online archives for KZN racing only go back to 2017 and they show that Miller won the first juvenile race of the season in KZN with Vertical Descent in 2017, with Bound By Duty in 2018, with Sheldon in 2020, with Royal Sovereign in 2021 and with Sovereign Grant in 2022 … and he has done it again this year with Siesta Sunset.

However, his dominance of this race stretches for many years beyond 2017.

Talking about the secrets of success in this race Sterling Miller said, “There is a lot of groundwork that needs to be done. There is six or seven months of solid cantering and proper groundwork. The grass gallops are only the cherry on the top at the end.”

Asked whether he was surprised by the result on Sunday, he replied, “It surprised me that we ran first, second and third, because there was so much talk for the other horses in the race. There was talk that there were a few horses that were deemed to be unbeatable, but obviously training juveniles is not as straight forward as people think.

The betting suggested the What A Winter colt Holds The Key was the one to beat as he is not only a half-brother to the very quick Rafeef gelding Mover And Shaker, but stable jockey Tristan Godden was also aboard.

However, he was scythed down late by the stablemate Siesta Sunset, a Querari filly with Mathew Thackeray aboard.

Sterling believed the betting worked chiefly on jockey arrangements, but reckoned there was also some guesswork.

He added, “If you look at the weights it is very difficult for the colts to beat the fillies. The filly was always going to be right there at the weights and on the day she just pitched up a little bit more advanced than the colts.”

A look at the prices of the last few Miller winners of this race Vertical Descent was 9/10 favourite and there were no fillies in the race that year,  Bound By Duty was 8/10 and fillies filled the next four places, Sheldon was 28/10 favourite and beat the decent filly Aisling home, Royal Sovereign led home a Miller quartet in 2021 but was a 10/1 shot whilst the 25/11 favourite Silver Ducat could only manage a 1,20 length third and Sovereign Grant was 28/10 favourite and won comfortably.

So the betting is usually a good guide.

Sterling said Holds The Key had been showing the most pace at home, but he felt he was still a little bit round on race day and reckoned he would have improved with the run.

He said the public should watch out for many more Miller-trained juveniles still to come out.

Of others to watch out for Sterling said their Gr 2 Debutante winner Just Reckless had improved.

He said, “It is actually scarey how much she has improved since her holiday. She is showing us some really good work, she had a grass gallop on Monday. There are a few options for her including the Gr 3 Mother Russia Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein on January 5 or otherwise the African Holly Stakes against older males over 1100m, also on January 5 at Hollywoodbets Scottsville. Everybody who has ridden her says she feels stronger than last season. I think she is in for a great, great season.”

Although the Miller yard have a reputation for juvenile success, they have actually changed their buying strategy and are buying for classic success these days.

They are a yard who look to have a bright future.