Winter Olympian Bode Miller Gets Del Mar Win in Summer Olympics Year

In a year focused on the Summer Olympics, Winter Olympian Bode Miller received a win of another kind on August 23.

The five-time Olympic medalist sent his racehorse, Carving, to post in the third race at Del Mar on the 23rd, a maiden claiming event. Carving won his debut by 1 3/4 length and gave Miller his first win as an owner.

Miller was there for the horse’s win and present in the Winners Circle with trainer Bob Baffert and Baffert’s son Bode, among others, for the win photo.

Carving is owned by in partnership by the ski racer and Natalie Baffert and was ridden to victory by Chantal Sutherland. The two-year-old dark bay colt is by 2007 G1 Haskell Invitational winner Any Given Saturday and out of the Giant’s Causeway mare In Seconds.

In May, Miller told the New York Post that racing is in his blood.

“My grandfather was very into horse racing, and I found some of his old journals and got into it from there,” Miller said.

Ironically, the Baffert-trained Bodemeister was retired this week due to a shoulder injury. That colt is tied to Miller in a roundabout way as Bode Baffert, from whom Bodemeister gets his name, is named after the skier.

Miller has been on four Olympic teams for the United States at the Winter Olympics and made his Olympic debut in 1998. He won three medals, including his first gold, at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver to become the most decorated American alpine skier.

Carving’s trainer Bob Baffert also looks to take on another highly decorated Olympic owner soon, as American swimmer Michael Phelps has expressed an interest in hiring Baffert to purchase and train racehorses for the athlete and his longtime coach Bob Bowman.