Page 15 - July 2007 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
You never know where or when the breaks are going to come in this game. Take Bev Miles for instance. For most of her racetrack life she was a diligent, competent groom. The kind of person every trainer likes to have in the barn and happy to be around the horses she loved. Then one day the trainer retires and the owner walks over to her and says, "Here’s your shot Bev, if you want it."
With that statement her life changed completely. No longer was she hired help, she was a trainer with responsibilities and commitments. And, except for the nervousness when one of her charges is running, she has taken to it like a duck to water.
A young woman with a love for horses Bev was born in New Westminster, British Columbia and her first experience with horses came when her parents bought a racehorse named
Papa’s Career.
"Then my sister bought an old broodmare and
bred it and I was hooked," she says. "I walked hots weekends and started working summers for [train- er] Peter Stephen when I was 16." She started grooming horses full time for him after graduating high school and under the tutelage of her mentor she learned how to care for and communicate with horses. In 1992 Stephen sent her and four horses to Yakima racetrack in Washington State.
"Where I met somebody," she says and didn’t come back to Canada until 2002.
She spent those ten years working as a groom at Emerald Downs and Bay Meadows in the summer and Santa Anita, Pomona, and Del
Mar racetracks in the winter.
In 2002 she returned to Hastings Park to "...see if there was anything around here
for me. I never intended to train horses, it was always nice having a steady paycheck every two weeks."
Owner Gary McNeil had other ideas. When Stephens retired he needed a trainer for his horses and Bev was the logical choice, she knew the horses and he trusted her. Bev now lives on his farm and takes care of the horses there as well as at the track.
McNeil likes to win and has had success with some pretty nice horses like Work Visa and J V Bennett, who ran 102 times with a record of 34 wins and earnings totaling $429,790 before retiring as a 12 year old.
The Game, July 2007 15
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A Look at Racing in British Columbia
By Jim Reynolds
Bev Miles with her $25,000 claim Africameetsindia.
Jim Reynolds photo
CARDathon in the Park
Celebrity Rider Carol Mott of CFRB radio is first and foremost for the ribbon cutting before taking part in CARD’s annual fundraiser, CARDathon in the Park on June 16 at G. Ross Lord Park in Toronto. CARD is the Community Association for Riding for the Disabled and for many years it has improved the quality of life for countless people who have disabilities. CARD offers therapeutic horse riding to those whose lives are physically compromised.
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The move seems to be working for both. And is Bev apprehensive about it all?
"It’s hard to say because you don’t know what to expect," she says candidly. "Obviously I want to do well but with three horses that have never run and one old horse things are undecided.
"You don’t know what will happen and there’s always the chance you’re going to try too hard. And that always messes things up," she adds with a laugh.
"But I was never nervous running horses until now, because it reflects on me more now. Everybody knows I’ve been an assistant, been running barns, and they can say ‘oh you work hard.’ But now this is it. If I don’t do any good then maybe I don’t know what I’m doing."
As to how far she’d like to take training horses she admits that she hasn’t thought that far ahead.
"I’m taking one day at a time. I’ll just work with what I have and try to give each horse personal attention."
Her attitude is certainly professional and honest. She told McNeil not to expect a good year.
"There’s a lot of PR in this business but I don’t lie to the owners. If anything’s wrong I tell them."
Such candor is rare around a racetrack and Bev downplays the fact that she knows her craft. She has worked for and learned from some very good trainers. Now about a month into her new career she has won her first race (with a horse called Loud Linda) and claimed a horse for $25,000 from one of the major players at Hastings.
You may never know when the breaks come in this game but it sounds like she’s making the most of this one.