Mr Miller takes next step towards Group One goal

With bigger and better things pencilled in for later in the spring, the lightly raced Mr Miller (NZ) (Almanzor) continued his impressive progress through the grades with another easy win in Saturday’s A$160,000 Bankstown Sports Handicap (1500m) at Rosehill.

The New Zealand-bred Almanzor gelding was a debut winner in April and continued to catch the eye in three subsequent starts, recording another win along with two second placings to prompt trainer Chris Waller to identify the Gr.1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Randwick on October 3 as a potential spring goal.

Saturday’s performance gave Waller no reason to deviate from those plans. Mr Miller was sent out as a $1.90 favourite and duly delivered in style, cruising to the lead in the straight for jockey Tommy Berry and going clear to score by three lengths from his stablemate Invader Zim (Invader).

“He’s a real natural, this bloke,” Berry said. “He’s very fast out of the machines, and then as soon as you put him in a spot, he switches off.

“I loved how he picked up around the bend, and he feels like has so many gears.

“He hit the front a long way out and wanted to have a look around, but I still made him find the line, because he will be up against bigger races and stronger opposition soon.”

Mr Miller’s five-start career has now produced three wins, two seconds and A$217,300 in stakes.

“He should be five wins from five starts,” Waller’s stable representative Darren Beadman said. “He’s a very push-button type of horse and puts himself into the right spots in his races. He has the turn of foot to put them away quickly.

“I think his rating might be too low to get into an Epsom at the moment, but he could get there through one of those qualifying races.

“Chris has given him plenty of time, and everything this horse has done so far has been very impressive.

“He is certainly a horse that is getting everyone to take notice of him.”

Bred by Graham and Helen-Gaye Bax of Blandford Lodge, Mr Miller is by Cambridge Stud stallion Almanzor out of the winning Pins mare Miss Miller.

He was offered through Blandford Lodge’s draft at the 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale at Karaka, where he failed to meet his $80,000 reserve.

Mr Miller subsequently remained in New Zealand and was purchased privately by Kheir and his partners after catching the eye in a Taupo trial before joining Waller’s Sydney stable.