there is only one golden miller.

​Red Rum is undoubtedly the greatest Aintree horse in racing history. I doubt if his achievement of three-wins will ever be surpassed. Indeed, I would argue he is one of the greatest racehorses of all-time, if not the greatest (arguably Desert Orchid might top him) for the impact he had on the sport. I would not dispute the suggestion that if it were not for Red Rum, the Grand National might not exist today.
If numbers or ratings were applied to the question ‘who is the greatest steeplechaser to run in the Grand National’, the answer would be Golden Miller, the only horse to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Aintree spectacular in the same season.
When racing journalists list their top ten steeplechasers of all-time, due to the curveball of recency, many will include Best Mate and perhaps Captain Christy, and yet leave out Golden Miller, the winner of five Cheltenham Gold Cups. It is argued that in his day, the Gold Cup was nothing more than a trial or prep-race for the Grand National and that is not exactly true. If you read Basil Briscoe’s dreadful book – if you took out all the repetitions the book would be even shorter than it is - ‘The Life of Golden Miller’, he makes no bones about The Miller’s reputation as the greatest steeplechaser of his era was founded at Cheltenham, not Aintree.
At Aintree, Golden Miller was no Red Rum. Rummy loved the place; The Miller came to loathe the place. To my surprise, when Golden Miller won the Grand National in 1934, he received 2Ibs from Thomond, beating him into third by 5-lengths and the same. Golden Miller did not even start favourite, that honour falling to Really True who had finished second the previous year. Incidentally, Golden Miller won the Grand National as a 7-year-old, first running in the race as a 6-year-old, having already won 3 Cheltenham Gold Cups. As when Red Rum won his first Grand National, Golden Miller broke the track record carrying the welter burden of 12st 2Ibs.
Golden Miller’s c.v. is unlike any of the horses that might appear on lists of ‘greatest horses’. He was bred, if you do not already know, by Barry Geraghty’s grandfather, who was given his dam to look after by a local army man who was leaving home to re-enlist in the army. He never came back to reclaim his mare. The great horse was originally sold as a yearling for 100 guineas.
Golden Miller won in total 29-races and due to carrying the wrong weight was disqualified in another. His first appearance on a racecourse was at Southwell as a 3-year-old over hurdles, where he was unplaced. His first victory was in his third race later in January 1931 at Leicester, picking up 83-guineas for his then owner Mr.Carr. 3-weeks later he won again at Nottingham. In Golden Miller’s era, remember, horses often travelled to the races by train and racecourses close to railway stations were favoured by trainers.
The following season he won first-time out in a hurdle race at Chelmsford. He won again at Chelmsford in November before winning his first steeplechase at Newbury, though he was disqualified at the previous Newbury meeting in the less-than-gloriously-named Moderate Chase. He finished his first season as a chaser by winning his first Gold Cup, on his fourth race over fences, and then running unplaced in a flat race and finally finishing unplaced in the Lancashire Chase at Manchester. It was the following season that saw a by now fully-furnished Golden Miller soar to the heights that he remains remembered by. Winning 5-races, including the Gold Cup, before running unplaced in the Grand National.
The following season he was campaigned with only the Grand National in mind, winning a second Gold Cup on his way to winning the Grand National, a fete still to be surpassed by any horse.
He won chases at Wolverhampton, Leicester, Derby and Sandown before completing his Gold Cup hat-trick, though he unseated early on the Grand National, was turned-out the following day and unseated again in the Champion Chase. His dislike of Aintree was becoming noticeable.
In the year of his fifth Gold Cup triumph, he only won one other race, the Andover Chase at Newbury, being beaten first-time out in a National Hunt flat race at Sandown and prior to Cheltenham ran out five fences from home, in the Newbury Chase at, unsurprisingly, Newbury. His final attempt at adding to his Aintree laurels came in 1936 where he brought down in a melee at the first fence, was remounted only to refuse at the open ditch after Valentines.
Amazingly, at least by today’s standards, that was not the end of Golden Miller’s season as he turned out less than 3-weeks later in the Welsh Grand National at Cardiff, finishing a gallant third.
Again, by the standards of today, the 1937 Gold Cup was abandoned due to flooding and was not reopened, which, perhaps, displays its significance back then, with the Grand National the only National Hunt race with any prestige value. Before refusing once again in the Grand National, he had won four races, 2 at Wincanton, I at Gatwick and, according to Basil Briscoe’s, as I now understand, unreliable resume of the Miller’s career, a race at Birmingham, the Optional (S) Chase. The s could not stand for selling, could it?
Golden Miller did not contest the Grand National in 1938, though he did attempt a sixth triumph in the Gold Cup, failing with his usual display of courage to Morse Code. He did, though, add, two more victories to his career total, including that Optional (S) Chase at Birmingham.
Golden Miller was a great horse and would have achieved similar levels of success in any era of the sport, I believe. He was, not, though a hero of Aintree, taking the opinion that to win the race once was enough for any horse.