Al Miller shares life lessons learned from standardbred ownership with grandson Brackton
One of those lessons Miller learned from his father, who told him, âIf you canât be the winner, at least stand by the side and cheer as the winner goes by.â
by Chris Lomon
Whenever Al Miller offers up life lesson advice to his grandson, Brackton, itâs a good bet theyâll be plenty of horse racing analogies within the conversation.
What could an upcoming freshman year at Davenport University have in common with standardbred ownership?
Plenty, according to the Indiana horseman who has been part of the sport for nearly 50 years.
âI like to say to Brackton, âOwning a horse is just like every day life⌠the highs are very high and the lows are very low.â Heâs going to (Grand Rapids) Michigan for his first year of college, and Iâm sure that just like everyone else, heâll find out that those words are true.â
Al Miller has known that ever since he owned his first racehorse in the early 1970s.
Born to Amish parents, Miller eventually moved to Indiana, bringing with him a longstanding appreciation and fondness for all things equine.
He owned his first standardbred when he was a teenager.
âWe kind of, what they called, âjumped the fence,â and took our buggy horses and made racehorses out of them,â said Miller. âIâve been owning horses since I was about 18 or 19.â
While the number of horses heâs owned has varied from year-to-year, Miller, who has also driven and trained standardbreds, currently has a one-horse stable.
Middleofamemory, a 3-year-old Indiana-bred daughter of Riggins, had three starts in 2019, all coming at Hoosier Park.
The bay, bred by Chapel Ridge Farm, in Grabill, IN, finished seventh in each race, all contested in October.
âIâm down to just one or two horses a year,â said Miller. âOne of them forgot he was a racehorse, so heâs pulling a buggy now.â
The veteran horseman is hoping Middleofamemory isnât buggy-bound.
âWe got her ready last year a 2-year-old, raced her three times, and she acted like she wasnât mature enough. So, we turned her out for a while, and now weâre getting her ready. Hopefully, she does better this year. If not, I whispered in her ear, âYou know, the buggies are pretty close.ââ
Whether she establishes herself or not, Miller isnât ready to hang up his tack when it comes to horse ownership.
Not when he has his lifelong passion to share with others.
âWhen Brackton was 13, he was racing what are considered standardbred-cross ponies⌠they canât be over 52 inches tall. You can race them when youâre younger. We got one and he did really well with it. But I told him, âBrackton, you gotta get a standardbred. These ponies, it costs the same to shoe them, the harness costs the same â everything costs the same.â But the purses are only around $50. I told him that if he likes doing this, we have to make a change.â
And thatâs what precisely what they did.
Just over two year ago, Miller bought Shes Too Gucci, an unraced 2-year-old filly. He took Brackton to Dojea Stables to take a look at the trotting daughter of Guccio.
For the first few months, Miller jogged the bay, getting a helping hand from with Brackton when he had time off from his studies and high school basketball games.
âEven though he was young, you could tell he liked the horses. That hasnât changed since then. Together, weâve found itâs a lot of fun owning horses. When youâre in school, itâs hard to do anything outside of focusing on your education. But this, itâs just nice to have something to do together.â
Even if winning with an odd-on favourite is no slam-dunk.
âI told Brackton itâs just like basketball, when the game or the race is over you have to turn the page because you canât dwell on it. He does that and so do I. When youâre younger you do tend to dwell on it, but you have to move on.â
Miller can use Whole Lotta Speed as a perfect example of what he preaches.
Sent off as the 1-9 choice in an Indiana Sires Stakes event, in what appeared to be a sure win â both before and after the gate swung open â soon turned to disappointment.
âShe was in, I believe it was a $100,000 sires stakes final,â said Miller. âWe put a brand new pair of knee boots on her because you really want to be ready for a race like that. Well, the suspender broke, and it wrapped around her legs. The driver had to pull her to the outside and my wife turned to me and said, âMan, I was already smelling those roses.â She didnât even finish the race because the suspenders wouldnât unwrap. They just slowed her down. We look back now and laugh.
âThen thereâs other times when you win a race at 50-1 and you canât believe it. Itâs just like life. But weâve been blessed. Iâve had lots of good memories over the years.â
Not that itâs always been easy.
Miller has seen the sport go through several twists and turns over his six decades in it.
âThe biggest things for me is keeping the horses sound with the speeds that they are going, and to keep them classified. You need to keep them classified to make money. With the little guy, itâs tough to just survive at one racetrack because if you run out of conditions, youâll have to ship them east or somewhere where thereâs a little variety in terms of the conditions. I used to have horses up to six-, seven-, and eight-years-old, but it seems likes with our sires stakes, once theyâre out of there, if theyâre good they can go on, but if not, it gets tough to keep them classified.â
Approaching 70, Miller still finds plenty to keep him coming back every year.
âThe outside of a horse is really good for the inside of a man,â he offered, quoting the famous line of Winston Churchill. âI love horses, and the passion is still there. Once the fire in my belly leaves, then I think itâs time to head to the seashore and watch the time roll by.â
Until then, youâll find grandfather and grandson standing side-by-side along the rail at Hoosier Park.
âI think everybody here in Indiana wishes everybody the best. It might not be quite as good as it used to be, but I still think itâs great. If someone is down and out, people are willing to help. I think itâs still a family-type atmosphere amongst the horsepeople.â
And a sport that has a seemingly endless amount of lessons to draw upon.
âMy dad always told me, âIf you canât be the winner, at least stand by the side and cheer as the winner goes by.â I still try and instill that in my family. You might not win that race, but you never know⌠it might be you the next time.â