Famed Pennsylvania horseman F. Bruce Miller, the trainer of one America's greatest steeplechasers in Lonesome Glory, died last week at age 89.
Miller, whose training career spanned six decades, won 561 races on the flat and over jumps, earning more than $10 million. He was leading National Steeplechase Association trainer by wins once and earnings twice. Not bad for a conditioner who ran a boutique stable, never numbering more than 15 horses.
Besides the illustrious Lonesome Glory, a Hall of Famer, millionaire, and the only jumper to capture five Eclipse Awards, Miller also conditioned NSA champions All Gong (2000) and Pierrot Lunaire (2012), campaigned by the Houghland family.
Miller's other top runners include grade 1 stars Pelagos, Popular Gigalo, and Yellowroad, along with stakes winners Turkish Corner, High Card, Najim, Best Attack, and Serenity Prayer.
Miller, who was based out of his beloved Fox Ferret Farm near Unionville, rode his first timber race in 1966, three years before saddling his initial runner. He saddled his final starter in 2017. Miller was equally renowned as a foxhunter. He spent the height of his foxhunting career with Cheshire huntsman Ivan Dowling, and was joint-master at Pennsylvania's Cheshire Foxhounds from 2003 to 2013.
But it was Lonesome Glory, bred by Walter M. Jeffords and owned by his widow, Kay, that showcased Miller's astute horsemanship and defined his career. A failure as a flat runner and show horse, Miller transformed the temperamental Transworld gelding into a jumper who became the dominant competitor of the 1990s. Lonesome Glory captured nearly every major race over hurdles and chase fences in America. He won 30 of his 52 starts, including 17 NSA-sanctioned events, retiring with a then-Association record $965,809 in earnings.
When Miller shipped Lonesome Glory to win a novice race at Cheltenham in 1992, it gave him the distinction of becoming the first American trainer to take a British National Hunt event. He would make a winning return to England in 1995 at Sandown Park. In total, the grand gelding earned $1.3 million.
Among Lonesome Glory's many major accomplishments: He won the Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup in 1994, 1995, and 1997; set a Belmont Park course record when winning the 1993 Breeders' Cup Steeplechase by 8 1/2 lengths. He set five other course records, including at Saratoga Race Course when winning the 1995 New York Turf Writers Cup. He concluded his career with a course-record effort in the Royal Chase at Keeneland Race Course.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2005, and was buried on the grounds of the National Steeplechase Museum in Camden, S.C. after he died as a result of a paddock accident in 2002.
Lonesome Glory was ridden mostly by Miller's daughter Blythe, herself a winner of more than 300 races on the flat and over jumps, who later turned to training. Miller's son, Chip, another an NSA star, recorded 212 steeplechase victories, and rode Lonesome Glory on several occasions. The current generation is represented on the NSA circuit by Teddy Davies, the son of Blythe and Joe Davies, also a former rider and current trainer.
Memorial arrangements have not been formally announced.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
