JJ’s winning style

Legendary jockey and horse trainer John ‘JJ’ Miller (’50) puts his phenomenal success down to three things: CBC Fremantle, his time in the ‘Nashos’ or National Servicemen’s Association, and his wife of 67 years, Kay.

The CBC Old Boy rode more than 2,200 winners, and is still the only jockey to have won the triple of prestigious Australian cups in one season – Melbourne, Caulfield and Sydney.

JJ is part of an extended family tree of WA sporting legends and horseracing heavyweights, and could find a relative who was a Miller, Sheehy, Regan, McManus, Neesham or Coleman in any CBC classroom. While he was still a student, JJ was already an apprentice jockey, and when he left school the livewire of horseracing also took on a boilermaker apprenticeship.

JJ’s illustrious racing career spanned 40 years, commencing with a win after just six races in 1947. In the mid-1960s, JJ moved to South Australia where he rode for ‘Cups King’ and racing icon, Bart Cummings. It was a match that would make history, with JJ riding the Cummings-trained gelding Galilee to win the three big races in 1966 and 1967. With his unique riding style, JJ never used a whip – which he attributes to the constant threat of the ‘cuts’ from Br Garrity when he was at school – but his superb balance and split-second timing meant he was the first to cross the line in races all around Australia and overseas. In 1970 he returned to Perth and won almost every major race on the Western Australian calendar, including a Railway Stakes, two Perth Cups and six Australian Derbies.

Keeping it all in the family, JJ rode many winners for Kay, who also had horseracing in her blood and was a world-acclaimed trainer. After his final race in 1988, JJ also went on to become a successful trainer and in 1995 was inducted into the Western Australian Sporting Hall of Fame.

Long retired from the world of racing, JJ keeps fit by swimming most days, and enjoys pottering around in the garden and doing odd jobs. He has 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who keep him busy and he still loves to catch up with his old CBC mates.

JJ with his wife, Kay, at the 2018 All Ages Reunion.

JJ on Galilee in the 1966 Melbourne Cup.

JJ on the right at the CBC All Ages Reunion in 2020.