Miller, Marohn dominant at Freehold

Tyler Miller and Jim Marohn Jr proved to be dominant harness racing forces at Freehold Raceway on Friday (Feb. 23).

Miller scored four times on the ten-race card. He swept the early double, winning with Ms Chantalmachabay (Jk Endofanera) in her first start for Izzy Estrada after coming down from Canada in race one. Then he won again in wire-to-wire fashion in race two with his reliable mount, Don’t Trip (Nob Hill High), trained by Maria Reid.

The 26-year-old Miller steered Lionhead (Uncle Peter) to victory in race six for owner/trainer Terry Morgan. He rounded out the card with his fourth victory of the day. His mount was the 8-5 favorite, Girl Almighty (Great Vintage).

But having the favorite did not mean he would have an easy trip. After getting away fifth from post position four, Miller pulled to the third-over position at the half. He stayed there until it was time to make a bold move and go four-wide around the leaders in the final turn. The field tried to battle on but as they approached the wire it was just Girl Almighty dueling stride-for-stride with Goinroundncircles. Tyler Miller and the John Urbanski home-bred prevailed by a head, securing a grand-slam on the card for Miller.

GIRL ALMIGHTY REPLAY

Marohn Jr made his 2024 debut at Freehold after being sidelined since November due to an injury from a driving accident. Last weekend he drove in four qualifiers and last night (Feb. 22) made his first pari-mutuel start of 2024 at Yonkers where he had two starts and finished fifth and seventh. Today he made his return to Freehold and he certainly put an exclamation mark on his comeback as he won three out of the five races he started in. He picked up a second-place finish and a fifth in his other starts, picking up where he left off with a strong performance today.

The exciting race card was called by a new voice at Freehold Raceway today. Larry Fox, a long-time harness racing owner and fan called his first full pari-mutuel card as he filled in for Edison Hatter today. Fox has been gaining announcing experience by calling the qualifiers at the Big M but got his first call to announce a “real deal” card today and did an excellent job.

Racing resumes tomorrow (Feb. 24) at Freehold with 12 races beginning at 12:30pm.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Katie Eick, for Freehold Raceway