Featured Driver – Andy Miller
With over 8,000 wins in his driving career and almost $101 million in purses, Andy Miller is a top name in harness racing. It certainly doesn’t hurt that his wife, Julie Miller, has notched over 1,150 lifetime wins as a trainer herself, not to mention nearly $20 million in purse winnings.
Miller has been involved with harness racing for a long time, 25 years to be exact, and started out racing horses around local fairs “and just kind of caught the bug.” When he married his wife Julie, they moved to Chicago and started a successful stable there for about 10 years before moving out East.
With such a successful racing career, it’s hard for Miller to narrow down just one he’s most proud of so he came up with three. First to mind was the highest purse he’s ever won, when he drove Creamy Mimi to a 1st place finish at the Hambletonian Oaks. Speaking of wins, he’s been very successful at and always enjoys racing during Super Night at Balmoral Park. But most recently he had a trotter named Lucky Jim who went 17 for 18 in 2009, so all of his races that year were very special.
Yes, Team Miller is a force to be reckoned with, especially considering their current undefeated superstar Perfect Alliance. Things took a turn for the scary, however, when Miller was involved in an accident at Yonkers Raceway back in April. Following vertebrae surgery, he’s resting up patiently, just waiting to get back to the driver’s seat.
“The support is amazing,” Miller said. “All the drivers have offered to help out all they can as far as helping with the horses or training. And Julie’s been doing a great job taking care of the stable. The stable’s been doing good and everybody’s been real outpouring with support. It’s been really great.”
As for the future, the Miller stable has two standout stars in the 2014 season, Perfect Alliance and Sevruga. He has high hopes for Sevruga’s 2014 career, while Perfect Alliance started out an incredible 9 for 9 before a recent 2nd place finish to Classic Martine at the Armbro Flight Stakes at Mohawk Raceway.
This interview is part of our new weekly features of faces in the sport, from fans to owners, trainers to grooms.
