Trainer of the Year: Steve Miyadi

BY JACK SHINAR

Consistency in any sport is the hallmark of a true professional. When it comes to horse racing in California, few trainers can match the level attained by Southern California-based Steve Miyadi.

While 2020 will go down as one of the strangest years on record, the 63-year-old Miyadi kept plugging along as usual. Despite many race days lost due to coronavirus restrictions that also left the grandstands closed to the public, the Arcadia resident was able to cobble together 293 starts, totaling nearly $1.5 million in total purse earnings while posting 63 wins. His 22% strike rate marked the 13th year in which he has won with at least 20% of his starters, a benchmark of success in his profession.

For his ef orts, Miyadi was named the California T oroughbred Breeders Association 2020 Trainer of the Year.

“It means a lot, of course,” Miyadi said of the award. “But you are only as good as your last win in this game. T e real credit goes to my assistants, Carlos Ornelas at Golden Gate Fields, Amanda Ropar at Santa Anita, and Antonio Terrazas at Los Alamitos. T ey get all the credit, along with the rest of my help. Wins and awards like this are really a ref ection of the people around you, and that includes my owners, people like Nick Alexander and Gary Barber.”

And, of course, there are the horses. In Miyadi’s case, they are almost entirely bred in California, another reason winning this recognition is special for him.

“California-breds make up probably 90% of my barn, maybe more—that’s how important they are. T at’s especially true competing in Southern California.” Miyadi noted that there are so many races locally with strong purses that specif cally are written for state-breds.

His best in 2020 was Lieutenant Dan, a 2016 son of Grazen who has won stakes races on both turf and dirt. T e bay gelding, bred and owned by Alexander, won the Sensational Star Stakes on grass and placed in two other stakes while racing just three times in 2020. T at followed a 2019 campaign in which he won four times and placed in four other tries from nine starts. A lifetime earner of $426,020, he was named champion Calbred 3-year-old male of 2019.

Miyadi is now in his 34th season as a head trainer after leaving the late Mike Mitchell’s stable to strike out on his own in 1987. His barn currently numbers 45 horses, with about half of those based at Santa Anita and the other half split evenly between Golden Gate and Los Alamitos. During that time, he has amassed a career winning percentage of 20%, with nearly 1,700 winners and career purse earnings approaching $27 million.

Mitchell has had more inf uence on him than anyone else “without a doubt,” says Miyadi. “He was my best friend until the day he died.”

Miyadi said he met Alexander while he was a groom for Mitchell in the 1980s.

CTBA Trainer of the Year Steve Miyadi conditioned Cal-bred Lieutenant Dan, below, to win the Sensational Star Stakes

© BENOIT PHOTOS