by James Platz

Next month, James Miller will mark eight years in the business as an owner. The Dixon, KY resident frequented racetracks for years, but finally pursued ownership on the advisement of his wife. Recently, Miller-owned pacers have found success at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. Then-sophomore Soaring Now was named 2022 Indiana Pacer of the Year after a strong campaign, and this season freshman filly Brookview Fancy has risen to the top of her Indiana Sires Stakes division, collecting her third victory in the state’s top program Wednesday (Aug. 28).

“I just got lucky,” Miller said of purchasing the freshman. “Luck is 80 per cent of it.”

Miller is all too familiar with the role luck plays when horses line up behind the starting gate. He was born into a racing family and later became a regular at the track playing the ponies.

“My mom and dad owned and trained horses from about 1970-75,” Miller said. “They quit when I started school. We lived a block away from Audubon Raceway. I was there every night watching races. Ellis Park was five miles away from us. When I was a teenager, I was over there all the time. I’ve always been around it; I’ve always gambled on it. Sometimes more than I should. I’ve always enjoyed it.”

That indulgence led to the conversation with his wife which opened the door to ownership.

“My wife said I shouldn’t gamble so much, just buy one,” he said.

He purchased pacing filly Courageous Colors in October 2016. The Net Ten Eom lass didn’t race at 2, but made 15 starts as a sophomore. She took her 1:55.3 mark at Hoosier Park in her lone victory. Miller kept the mare and bred her to Riggins, producing Totally Rigged, a mare that has earned $60,000. She has produced one other winner.

That experience has led to consistent involvement. Miller attends the Hoosier Classic sale each fall looking to purchase one horse. In 2020, luck was on his side when he bought Soaring Now for a mere $6,000. As a freshman, the JK Endofanera—Sunflower colt won three times and banked $37,000 for trainer LeWayne Miller. As a sophomore, Aaron Stutzman took over training duties, and Soaring Now scored victories in six of 14 attempts, finishing off the board only three times. The pacer completed the year with $374,375 in seasonal earnings. He was sold that December.

It would be hard to duplicate those accomplishments and achieve such a tremendous return on investment, but last fall Miller again made a savvy purchase that has already produced exponential returns. Brookview Fancy, cataloged as Hip #278, sold around a third of the way through Hoosier Classic’s second session. A JK Endofanera first foal out of $500,000 winner Get Your Armor, she brought $13,000, less than half the average price of a ‘JK’ yearling last year.

“I go up there with a short list and I try to find some value with one,” Miller said. “She was it last year. When I looked at her, I went back and looked up her mother. I watched a bunch of her races up at Northfield. She was just a tough mare. I really liked her video. I stand in the back of the walking ring and I watch them circle through that ring. She was already on my list, and I just figured she would bring way out of my league.”

But she didn’t, and Miller signed the slip and sent her home with Stutzman to train over the winter. Since showing up in a qualifier in early July, Brookview Fancy has been nearly flawless. She finished second in her debut, but has won four-straight since.

“She’s big, she’s game, and she hasn’t done anything wrong from Day One,” Stutzman said. “I just think she’s come along great. She’s a little warm, but other than that, she’s just handy. She’ll do anything you want to do with her. She doesn’t like to sit in a hole, but when she gets out on the front-end rolling, she just keeps on going.”

To date, the only bump in the road came in the opening round of Indiana Sires Stakes competition. Set to make her second seasonal start, the filly was scratched after an incident shipping from northern Indiana to Hoosier Park.

“That night we got down there and she had stuck her foot through the trailer window,” Stutzman said. “That was an instant scratch. There was blood everywhere. Mostly scrapes and scratches. We were pretty lucky on that deal. I have no idea how she did it. She almost had to sit down to reach up there with her front foot the way she fills out the trailer. She’s still got a scar on her ankle from where she tore it up.”

Two weeks later, Brookview Fancy was back in action, earning her first win in an overnight event. Steered by Kyle Wilfong, the filly won by more than six lengths as the favorite, pacing the mile in 1:51.4. It is hard for Miller to travel to Hoosier Park and watch the filly race, but he did get to attend for her first sires stakes score. That night she captured a $68,500 division by a length-and-a-half with Joey Putnam at the lines.

Since that night, the freshman has added two more sires stakes wins. In an Aug. 14 leg she held off Loveyoucookie by a head in 1:52.4. Brookview Fancy and Putnam closed out the month with a one-length triumph in a season’s best 1:51.2. The Brookview Farms-bred pacer has raked in $108,750 and leads the division in points with two legs left before October’s Super Final.

Despite the success, Miller doesn’t have the best horse in the family at the moment. His father and step-mother own the Stutzman-trained Sabonis, the Indiana-sired sophomore pacer that has won 12 of 13 seasonal starts including nine straight. The Tellitlikeitis colt has banked $343,250 in 2024.

“I like to give a lot of credit to Aaron and his dad, Levi,” Miller said. “They do a heck of a job. They got us started, and they’ve always been good to us.”