There is a different Tyler Miller

Trenton, NJ — They share a name, but their harness racing backgrounds are as different as it gets for Tyler A. Miller and Tyler J. Miller.

Tyler J. comes from a renowned Standardbred family, as mom Julie and dad Andy have enjoyed successful careers as a trainer and driver, respectively. Several years ago, Tyler J. embarked on his own driving career.

Tyler A. grew up with no attachment to the sport whatsoever but did enjoy watching the trottingbred pony races at the Indiana fairs with his brother Luke. That exposure eventually pushed him into the Standardbred business. At age 24, he breeds, owns, trains and drives.

But not everybody in the business can tell the difference, such as one of the owners of Hall of Fame pacer Captaintreacherous.

“Myron Bell texts me sometimes, and one time he congratulated me on my victory which was really nice of him, I appreciated it,” Tyler A. said with a laugh. “But I hadn’t raced anything in about three months, so I figured he was probably after the other Tyler.”

At the time, the Indiana Miller did not own a driving win, though he did score his first training win at Harrah’s Hoosier Park last November. It took a while longer, but Tyler A. made Bell’s text come true on July 10 when he got his first win in the bike with Lady Angel at an Indiana-sired fair circuit race at Kendallville.

“I was just happy to get the win,” Miller said. “This was a filly I raised, so that really made it a lot of fun to get that win. It was a great feeling.”

Almost ecstatic? Not quite.

“It was relief, mainly,” he continued. “Before that, you think you can do it. But to actually do it, then you know you’re capable. You see all these guys winning races and you think ‘Why can’t I do that?’ To actually go out and get lucky and get one was a lot of fun.”

The race played out exactly how Miller hoped it would with his 2-year-old filly.

“I really just kind of wanted to get her some experience so I left with her a little bit,” he explained. “There was a guy behind me who wanted the lead, so I let him go, which worked out great because she’s better off a helmet anyway.

“I just stayed behind him, took the lead right at the three-quarters. I came up beside him, I was kind of grinding along there until the head of the stretch and she kind of pulled away from there. She finished up good and we got the job done.”

While winning is always nice, it becomes even nicer when it’s a horse that the driver both bred and trained.

“Oh my gosh, that’s the best part of it all,” Miller said. “I went out and literally delivered this baby, I raised it, trained it down. You don’t know what they’re going to be. All winter I thought she was pretty nice; but I didn’t know. Then she comes out and is actually decent. That’s an incredible feeling.”

Lady Angel won again in her next start when LeWayne Miller (no relation) got her around Harrah’s Hoosier Park in 1:54.4, giving her a second and two firsts in three starts. Interestingly, Tyler bought Lady Angel’s mom, Cammy’s Heart, to breed her and sell the yearlings.

“But we didn’t get a whole lot for her first two that we sold, so that’s why I just kept Lady Angel,” Miller said. “I figured I might as well race her myself instead of just giving her away.”

Although he has not won again while in the sulky, Tyler has finished second four times and third once this year, earning a total of $5,160. His two-year training career stats feature three wins, three seconds, four thirds and $18,170 in earnings.

He has cut back on breeding, but in just over a year Miller has made harness racing his only career after getting both his training and driving licenses last year. The Shipshewana, Ind., resident was working fulltime at RH Yoder Woodworking in 2020 while also training and breeding. He cut back to part-time hours over the winter but eventually left the job all together to focus full-time on harness racing.

And while Tyler’s driving win was exciting, he still looks back on that first training win with special pride. It came in his fifth start with 2-year-old Skyway Rockatop on Nov. 3 at Hoosier Park.

“I raced the trottingbred ponies for six years, so I wasn’t exactly brand new to this,” he said. “This feels kind of like the big leagues, so it was nice to get that one off my back. The training win was really cool. That was more of a shocked feeling than the driving win was. Well, I don’t know if shocked is the right word. It was more like ‘Hey, we did it!’ It was a good feeling.”

Miller started with the ponies at age 16 and bought his first Standardbred — a Captaintreacherous filly named Passionate Deo — at age 22. He gave her to trainer Jamie Macomber and the horse won nearly $40,000 for him in 2019. Tyler began re-investing the money to get to where he is now.

“That was a nice mare,” Miller said. “She did well to start me off with the ownership of Standardbreds.”

As for Skyway Rockatop, Tyler decided to start training her in order to save some money.

“Jamie Macomber had her and she was just kind of so-so,” Miller said. “She was a bigger 2-year-old and it took her a little bit to grow into herself throughout the season. The training bills were adding up. I figured I’d bring her home and try her myself. She kind of started coming into her own. I got that win last year. That kind of fired me up to go and get some more.”

This year, Tyler decided to get in the bike, since it was something that always appealed to him.

“I always liked that better with the race ponies,” Miller said. “I’ll watch a race at The Meadowlands six times and watch a different driver every drive just to see what they do in different situations. I always kind of thought driving was more for me, but I’m starting to really enjoy the training end of it too, so I don’t have a set goal in mind. I just want to see where it takes me.”

As his journey unfolds, Miller is also getting encouragement from his new friend.

“Over the winter, Myron Bell texted me and gave me some encouragement,” Miller said. “I appreciated that. He kind of kept me going a little bit there. I met him at the Harrisburg sale, I talked to him a little bit, and he’s a pretty cool guy.”

He’s even cooler when he tries to give Tyler an extra win on his record.

by Rich Fisher, for the USTA