Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Trainer of the Month
for May 2006

Delvin G Miller

If Del Miller had never come along, the sport of harness racing would have done well to invent one, or find another. A member of Harness Racing's Hall of Fame, Miller is recognized as one of the pioneers of the sport in this country and abroad.

Born in Woodland, California on July 5, 1913, Miller drove in his first race while still in high school, at Burgettstown, Pennsylvania in 1929. He won his first race at Carrollton, Ohio one year later, with a horse named Rene Direct in 2:09.

After graduating from high school, lettering in three sports, he spent a decade racing at the fairs all over Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Del Miller

He gained a reputation driving Colonel Drew, Miss Elmwood and Single Stine, names forgotten today, but horses who were big winners in their time. His racing career was interupted for three years by Army service with a Remount Battalion in the China-India-Burma theater. He brough home Asiatic-Pacific campaign ribbons and two bronze strars as a result.

When he returned to the States, Miller went to an auction to try to buy Adios, the world champion horse whom he wanted as a stud. The bidding sooned climed beyond Miller's cash limit, but he gathered some new sponsors and went all the way to $21,000 to get his stallion prospect. Adios would go on to be the dominant sire of his era.

With Adios at the farm, Miller set about racing famous horses like Dale Frost and Countess Vivian (the dam of Meadow Skipper), Direct Rhythm, Thorpe Hanover, Dudley Hanover, Countess Adios and others. Later he campaigned Delmonica Hanover, Tarport Hap, Meadow Bright, Songflori, Speed In Action, Tyler B, and Keystone Sister.

in 1982 Miller guided Arndon to the fastest mile ever by a trotter at the time of 1:54 in a time trial at Lexington. He said of the trotter: "I know he could trot in 1:52 if he were sound, but he was on the right line something terrible and all the way down the backstretch I must have been five-wide with him."

In 1986 Miller campaigned the two-year-old filly trotter Meadow Love to most of her earnings of $80,508 and the two-year-old trotting gelding Tarport Ramey to $53,541. What was interesting is that Tarpot Ramey was a one-eyed horse and he set a world record of 1:58 with Miller en route to winning an elimination of the Horsemen Stake, then equaled the world record when they won a PA Sire Stake event at The Meadows in 2:01.3.

The 1989 season saw Miller reach the winner's circle just one, but it was a big victory as the freshman trotting colt Castleton Magic was placed first in the $38,473 final of the Standardbred at Delaware. Castleton Magic earned the top spot when Royal Troubadour was placed back for interferrence.

Miller drove through his eighth decade, travelling throughout the country in 1990 to do so. Few people realize that it was Delvin Miller who brought pari-mutuel harness racing to western Pennsylvania. When legislation was enacted in 1963 to provide for harness racing with betting in the Keystone State, Miller founded The Meadows, just down the street from the Meadow Lands Farm. One of the highlights of the racing season annually is Adios Week at The Meadows, with a series of festive events and top Grand Circuit racing leading up to the "Pace For The Orchids,"--the Adios pace for sophomore pacers.

During his career, Delvin piloted 2,058 winners of over $11 million driving in his all familiar brown and gold racing silks.

2006 Archives
April: Chuck Sylvester
March: Billy Haughton
February: Bill Robinson