Miller’s first quinella was a family affair

Daryl Miller has been involved in harness racing for as long as he can remember, but Monday’s meeting at Pinjarra delivered him a first, his first training Quinella with Imahero (He’s Watching) and Feeling Empathy claiming first and second in the fifth on the card.

Driven by his son, Mitch Miller, the three-year-old filly began well from barrier two and after surrendering the lead to her stable mate, the pair were able to sail up the sprint lane to take the win, a remarkable sight with both of Miller’s boys in the cart, Dean Miller on board Feeling Empathy beaten just 5.1m.

IMAHERO REPLAY

“I very rarely have two horses going around in the one race,

“I didn’t think they would be that short actually.”

Imahero paid $5.50 for the win and Feeling Empathy started at $4.20 on TABTouch fixed odds.

Imahero has been a testing filly for the Miller stable, with a paddock injury in early 2022 resulting in a broken jaw to the young filly. With Miller at the time setting her towards the bigger two-year-old races, those hopes were soon shattered, with her injury requiring surgery and rest in order to heal.

Miller gave her the time she needed to rest before she made her way back to the races last year, eventually going on to claim two metropolitan two-year-old races in a row in June 2022, but her manners both at home and on the track have let her down on occasion.

“She had a spill at home here a little while back,

“She’s been going reasonable but not up to what I think she’s capable of,

“She’s still not quite right yet, I think she’s got a fair bit of improvement in her.”

Her form going into Monday’s race was ‘a bit scratchy’ as Miller described, but barrier drawers and harder company hadn’t helped the situation, but Miller is hopeful they’re ‘on the up’.

Imahero is still shifting her coat and still not performing to what he expects, he does expect there to be a fair bit of improvement in her runs and will hopefully race her again next Monday at Pinjarra in the 3YO event over the 1684m.

Miller currently has seven racehorses in work, as well as three breakers.

For complete race results, click here.

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA