Sun Shines Bright on Arizona

by Ralph the Cat

Although a career as a jockey for Arizona Miller seems like the best idea, he has other plans along the way. Arizona Miller will be hanging up his tack as a full-time dedicated jockey as he focuses on school and a wrestling championship. The 16 year old Junior who has put as many long shots in the winners circle as any this fall looks to focus on his last 2 years of high school before dedicating the rest of his life to horse racing. Miller, with 2 mounts left, sits with 11 wins from 224 mounts. Nothing spectacular, but for a 16 year old bug boy at Mountaineer, that's respectable. All you need to do is watch one race of his and you'll respect his desire to win in a jockey colony that's questionable at times.

Winning races is hard enough for any 16 year old bug buy, but trying to get "winning" mounts is an entirely different story at Mountaineer. In a jockey colony where leading rider Deshawn Parker sits 2nd in wins in the nation makes it hard for any rider to get "live" mounts. Then throw in Rex Stokes III and Dana Whitney who both finished in the top 10 last year in total wins in North America. Then you have guys like Scott Spieth grabbing mounts from plenty of shippers and Oswald Pereira dominating the mounts from the small local stables. I often wonder how any other jockey in the jocks room can even get a "live" mount. Then a 16 year old bug boy takes 11 winners into the winners circle between home work assignments in the jocks room. He's no Pat Day, he'll probably never win a grade I, but by golly its not everyday you can count on a jockey at Mountaineer to just try, to just try and win a damn race. Most Jockeys in his situation would quit school and race full-time, well, most of the jockeys he out-rides have already done that. I commend him for what he has accomplished and look forward to his return as a full-time jockey.