Golden Miller

Golden Miller
Sire	Goldcourt
Grandsire	Goldminer
Dam	Millers Pride
Damsire	Wavelets Pride
Sex	Gelding
Foaled	30 April 1927[1]
Country	Ireland
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Laurence Geraghty
Owner	Philip W. Carr Dorothy Paget (1931)
Trainer	Basil Briscoe Owen Anthony
Record	52: 29-7-6
Major wins
Cheltenham Gold Cup (1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936) Grand National (1934)
Last updated on 18 January 2011

Golden Miller (1927–1957) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who is the most successful Cheltenham Gold Cup horse ever, winning the race in five consecutive years between 1932 and 1936. He also is the only horse to win both of the United Kingdom's premier steeplechase races - the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National - in the same year (1934).

Breeding

He was bred at the yard of Laurence Geraghty, grandfather of jockey Barry Geraghty, in Pelletstown, Co. Meath, Ireland in 1927. He was sired by the unraced Goldcourt, who stood at a stud fee of five guineas and sired two Irish Grand National winners. His dam, Miller's Pride, was an ex-hunter who was placed and the dam of the good steeplechaser May Crescent. Her sire, Wavelet's Pride, won the Great Metropolitan Stakes, a hurdle race, and other races before he became a top jumper sire.^[2][3]

Racing record

Golden Miller was trained by Basil Briscoe in Longstowe, Cambridgeshire and owned by Dorothy Paget, who was the British flat racing Champion Owner in 1943, and the leading National Hunt owner in 1933-34, 1940–41 and 1951-52.

In 1931, Golden Miller made his steeplechasing debut at Newbury Racecourse where he finished first, only to be disqualified for carrying incorrect weight. On 30 December, he won the Reading Chase before winning the Sefton Steeplechase on 20 January 1932.

In 1933, as a six-year-old and winner of two Cheltenham Gold Cups, he started as the 9/1 favourite in the Grand National but fell at the Canal Turn.

In the 1934 Grand National win, he set a new course record of 9 min 20.4s for Aintree. This victory was the middle of five consecutive Gold Cup victories, a Gold Cup record.^[2]

He retired in 1939 with a record of 29 wins from 52 races. He is buried at Elsenham Stud, a working farm in Elsenham, West Essex.

Honours

Fred Varney, a bricklayer, bought a ticket in the Irish sweepstakes and drew Golden Miller. A bookmaker bought a half share in Fred's ticket for £3,000. When Golden Miller won, he won the top prize of £30,000. He had to give the bookmakers £15,000, which left Fred with £18,000. With the winnings, Fred and his son-in-law founded a coach company and named it Golden Miller Coaches after the horse. After many years, the company was bought and renamed Tellings-Golden Miller. Many of the firm's coaches have a portrait of the horse on the front or side of the vehicle.

A statue of Golden Miller was erected near the parade ring at Cheltenham Racecourse. The racehorse weather vane on top of Hucknall Library, in Nottinghamshire, commemorates Golden Miller: the library was funded by Edward Shipley Ellis and William Paget, two of the partners in the Hucknall Colliery Company. Dorothy Paget was a descendant of William Paget.

Pedigree

• Golden Miller was inbred 4 × 4 to Sterling, meaning that this stallion appears twice in the fourth generation of his pedigree.

See also

• Repeat winners of horse races

References

• An Observer Classic: 25 March 1934
• Golden Miller at the United Kingdom's National Horseracing Museum