Background
Michael "Buster" Millerick was born in Petaluma, California.
Michael "Buster" Millerick was born in Petaluma, California.
The Millerick family raised horses, ran the largest rodeo stock line in California and operated a rodeo. Buster"s uncles Tom, Jack and George also trained thoroughbred racehorses. Buster Millerick began working as a professional trainer while in his twenties.
Shortly after Santa Anita Park opened in Arcadia, California in 1934, Millerick was hired to condition horses for Charles Howard and would work under head trainer Tom Smith when the stable acquired Seabiscuit in 1936.
Buster Millerick avoided the limelight as much as possible. He was the trainer of Mr.
& Mistress Louis K. Shapiro"s United States. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Native Diver.
After a short illness, Millerick died at age eighty on September 30, 1986 at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, California. In 2010, Millerick was voted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.