MacKenzie "Mack" Todd Miller (October 16, 1921 – December 10, 2010) was an American

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...

and owner/breeder. During his forty-six-year career, he conditioned seventy-two stakes winners, including four

Eclipse Award The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division that is made by a few small selected American ...

champions.

Education and military service

Mack Miller grew up near the

Keeneland Race Course Keeneland Association, Inc. is an equine business based in Lexington, Kentucky. It includes two distinct divisions: the Keeneland Race Course, a Thoroughbred racing facility, and Keeneland Sales, a horse auction complex. It is also known for i ...

, and attended its first race in 1936. He studied at the

Bolles School The Bolles School is an American private college preparatory day and boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida. It has a lower school (including pre-kindergarten), a middle school, and a high school, spread across four campuses around the Jackson ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

then at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

but interrupted his education to serve with the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war's end, in 1947 he went to work as a stable hand for Calumet Farm. He became involved with conditioning horses, and took out his training license in 1949.

Hall of Fame training career

Miller trained 1974

Epsom Derby The Derby Stakes, also known as the Epsom Derby or the Derby, and as the Cazoo Derby for sponsorship reasons, is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey o ...

winner

Snow Knight Snow Knight (28 February 1971 – 15 September 1992) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won Britain's most prestigious race in 1974, the Derby, then the following year earned an Eclipse Award as the American Champion Male Turf Horse. Backgrou ...

who had been purchased by

E. P. Taylor Edward Plunket Taylor, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, CMG (January 29, 1901 – May 14, 1989) was a Canadians, Canadian business tycoon, investor and philanthropist. He was a famous breeder of Thoroughbred horse racing, race ...

; Snow Knight was selected 1975's

American Champion Male Turf Horse The American Champion Male Turf Horse award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor. The award originated in 1953 when the '' Daily Racing Form'' (DRF) named Iceberg II their champion. The Thoroughbred Racing Association (TRA) added the ca ...

. Miller also trained for

Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. Charles W. Engelhard Jr. (February 15, 1917 – March 2, 1971) was an American businessman, a major owner in Thoroughbred horse racing, and a candidate in the 1955 New Jersey State Senate Elections. He controlled an international mining and metal ...

He was then was hired by Paul Mellon for his

Rokeby Stables Rokeby Stables was an American thoroughbred racehorse breeding farm in Upperville, Virginia, involved with both steeplechase and flat racing. The operation was established in the late 1940s by Paul Mellon (1907–1999) who won the Eclipse Award ...

. He and Mellon had their first Kentucky Derby win in 1993 with

Sea Hero Sea Hero (foaled March 4, 1990 – July 12, 2019) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1993 Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes. Beginning in 2011, Sea Hero was the oldest living winner of the Kentucky Derby unt ...

. Among their other successes,

Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...

won the 1980 Brooklyn Handicap, the Suburban Handicap, and the

Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap The Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap was a Thoroughbred horse race first run in September 1973 at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. A Grade 1 race for horses 3 years old and up, it was raced over a distance of miles on a dirt track. The race c ...

. In 1984,

Fit to Fight Fit to Fight (April 5, 1979 in Kentucky – May 30, 2008) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Handicap Triple Crown (also called the New York Handicap Triple) in 1984. Background Sired by Chieftain, a son of Bold Ruler, in t ...

won the

New York Handicap Triple The Handicap Triple Crown or New York Handicap Triple are the names used to refer to three American handicap races for older Thoroughbred racehorses run by the New York Racing Association at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The three races are ...

, a feat accomplished just three times in the near one hundred years that the three races existed simultaneously. No horse has won the Handicap Triple since. Miller was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1987.National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
There is a Mack Miller Exhibit at the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum, where he operated a winter training facility for many years before selling to Janice and Robert McNair, the then owners of

Stonerside Stable Stonerside Stable is an American Thoroughbred horse breeding farm and horse racing operation near Paris, Kentucky. Until September 2008 it was owned by Robert and Janice McNair, who also own the National Football League team, the Houston Texans. ...

. Other honors he has received include the 1993 Honor Guest at the Thoroughbred Club of America's Testimonial Dinner from the

National Turf Writers Association The National Turf Writers Association (NTWA) is an American association of journalists, columnists and other writers involved with reporting on the horse racing industry. The organization was founded by prominent sports writer Joe Hirsch who served ...

. Following his retirement, he was elected to

The Jockey Club The Jockey Club is the breed registry for Thoroughbred horses in the United States and Canada. It is dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing and fulfills that mandate by serving many segments of the industry through its s ...

in 1997. He was the co-breeder of De La Rose, the 1981

American Champion Female Turf Horse The American Champion Female Turf Horse award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor. It is part of the Eclipse Awards program and is awarded annually to a female horse (filly or mare) for her performance on grass race courses. Until 1978 t ...

, and

Chilukki Chilukki (1997–2007) was an American Eclipse Award, Champion Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse, who during her racing career set two track records at Churchill Downs. She was bred in Kentucky by Dr. R. Smiser West and National Museum of ...

, the 1999

American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly The American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a female horse in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971. The award originated in 1936 when both t ...

. Miller died at the

Hospital. He had been hospitalized on December 5 following a stroke.

Champions trained by Mack Miller

* Leallah –

(1956) *

Assagai Assagai was an Afro-rock band, active in the early 1970s in London, whose relatively short career produced two albums recorded in 1971. It has been described as "the second best-known African group of the late 60s/early 70s in Britain" after Osi ...

–

(1966) *

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

– American Champion Male Turf Horse (1969) *

– American Champion Male Turf Horse (1975)

References

External links

Mr. and Mrs. MacKenzie (Mack) Miller at the NTRA

* ttp://www.drf.com/news/hall-fame-trainer-mack-miller-dies-age-89-0 Hall of Fame trainer Mack Miller dies at age 89 {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Mackenzie 1921 births 2010 deaths United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II American horse trainers United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees People from Versailles, Kentucky Bolles School alumni

Education and military service

Hall of Fame training career

Champions trained by Mack Miller

References

Further reading

External links