Passion is burning for trainer Jon Miller
CAMBRIDGE galloper Prince Of Passion has hit a purple patch in its career, but the good fortune has not been a staple of the horse’s career to date.
The gelding has overcome early adversity to win five races and was highly competitive at the elite level, finishing runner-up in the Group One Thorndon Mile at Trentham last season.
Co-owner and trainer Jon Miller said the horse has had to fight through numerous injuries to get to this point.
“He fractured a hind leg as a three-year-old and he was out for a year, he’s still got three pins in the leg,” he said.
“After that he put his other leg through a partition on the truck and was out again.”
As a result, the seven-year-old has been restricted to just 26 starts, but a tidy run for second in its 935m heat at the Cambridge trials last week showed a decent summer campaign could be in the offing.
“He surprised me a bit there, I thought he may have lost his early speed but he flew the gates,” Miller said.
“He sat three and four wide most of the way and fought on to just get nutted on the post. He’s pretty full of himself at the moment.”
Miller said Prince Of Passion was a couple of weeks away from opening a new campaign, with another attempt at a familiar group one race the objective.
“We’d like to have another crack at the Thorndon Mile, that will be his main goal again all going well,” Miller said.
“I think he’s the best I’ve ever had him.
“He’ll start off over 1200m and then up to 1400m and probably a mile over Christmas somewhere before the Thorndon.”