by Chris Lomon

Dustin Miller will tell you that sometimes it is the road more traveled that can take you to the most unexpected of places.

The notion that he would bring three horses from his home base in Tioga, NY, to compete at the Orleans County Fair in Barton, VT, had never crossed the amicable horseman’s mind.

Until it did.

“Honestly, it was on a whim,” said Miller. “I called Patty Bruno, who is the race secretary for a lot of the fairs in New York that I race at. I asked her a bunch of questions about it because I had never been, but always wanted to go. She told me all about it and I thought it sounded great. I didn’t end up entering horses, so Patty called me and said, ‘We’re short horses. What do you think?’ I told her that it was six hours, one way, and that is a lot.

“When I asked her how short they were on entries, she told me that they only had 17. I said, ‘Okay, let me put my three in.’”

It would turn out to be a win-won for all on Sept. 4.

Miller won all three races earning him the Rick Flanders Memorial leading driver title and commemorative blanket.

He trained and drove Angel’s Beauty, owned by Barbara Hudson of Chateaugay, NY, to victory in the non-winners of one trot in 2:13.3 and pacer Somebodys Me, also owned by Hudson, to a win in 2:03.4.

Miller capped off the day with a free-for-all pace score with Kissapotamus, owned by Donna Hansen of Afton, NY, in 2:01.3.

Vermont Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman, a farmer from Hinesburg, was on track to greet arriving horse people in the backstretch.

“I had an absolutely amazing experience,” said Miller. “It was the first time I had ever met a politician in a good way, in relation to horse racing. He was there to say hello – and it was nice to have that.

“I have been racing horses for almost my whole life and the atmosphere was just phenomenal. They welcome you with open arms, their stalls are set up so well, and they had name tags for the horses and their breeding on the stalls.”

It was a feeling like none other he had ever experienced in racing.

“Everybody, from the people who worked on the track to Dave Little, who was the announcer, to everyone who worked at the track – people would say, ‘Thanks for coming; your horses raced great,’” said Miller. “I have never had that before.”

Three trips to the winner’s circle were not the highlight for Miller.

Far from it.

“People might say I feel this way because I won three races,” he said. “I would have said the same thing if I had finished last in all three races. I didn’t go to win races. Luck happened to be on my side, and I had some very good horses who could win, and they did.

“That is the last fair in New England, outside of Maine for horse racing. I am going to do everything in my power to support these fairs. Without them, we would lose a significant part of our identity.”

After his trip to the Green Mountain State, Miller feels an obligation to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“I talked to quite a few people before that, and they had also expressed interest over the years about going but couldn’t pull it together in time,” he said. “Fortunately, for me, I have clients who give me carte blanche with the horses, where I can race them wherever I think is right. I told my owners we were going to Vermont, and they were very supportive.”

Miller has felt supported from the moment he decided to join the standardbred world.

It didn’t take long for him to realize he had a future in the sport.

“I remember being a little punk teenager on the backstretch of The Meadowlands,” he said. “My mom worked for [trainer] Ronnie Gurfein and my stepdad was his personal blacksmith, so I spent a lot of time at that track and in that barn as a kid, as well as at Monticello too.

“So, I just kind of fell into it. I worked for my brother-in-law, Claude Huckabone III, for a long time, and then ventured out on my own. Knock on wood, I have had what I consider to be a successful career.”

One, over the years, which has had its share of ups and downs, question marks, and forks in the road.

Even in times of doubt, Miller never lost his love of racing and racehorses.

“I have come and gone,” he said. “I’ve been in the business, I’ve left it, but I have always come back. The clients I have now are amazing. I have a barn full of horses, right now it’s 12.”

As for personal favorites, Miller came up with a pair of horses, one from his past and another from the present.

“One is a mare I claimed forever ago named Amy’s Dreamboat,” he said. “I got her out of a $6,000 claimer at Monticello and she turned into an open pacing mare who made around $90,000 in a year.

“Last year, I bought a little New York bred pacing filly, and when I say little, I mean, pony-sized little. I bought her as a 2-year-old, and she was extremely successful last year. We took a shot with her this year, and she was competitive in the Sires Stakes, which was a whole different world for me.”

Miller, who has 45 career driving wins and 163 more training, is not all about horse racing.

When he’s not in the race bike, he is working as an advanced emergency medical technician for a small ambulance company based in Sidney, NY, not far from his home in Bloomville.

“I can work my 36 hours on the ambulance and my schedule is set up that the only day I miss at the barn is Sunday,” said Miller. “I have time to look at horses, buy them, and enjoy that side of my life. I am very fortunate to get paid to do the two things I love to do.”

With three months left in the year, it has already been a prosperous 2024 campaign for Miller, the horseman.

He has already set a personal-best mark in driver purse earnings.

His upcoming calendar will see him compete in his home state and New Jersey.

“I raced most of the summer at Tioga and the county fairs,” he said. “Now, I am racing at Vernon, but with that meet coming to a close, I will venture down to Monticello and The Meadowlands for the winter. Give a few things a try and see how it goes.

“In the short term, I just want to keep doing what I am doing. I have been fortunate that my horses have been doing well, week in and week out this year. I would love to be competitive on a bigger circuit. Whether it happens or not, I don’t know. I’d be happy to keep the status quo.”

Something else that will stay the same for Miller, who also has ties to other horse breeds — his wife and brother-in-law run a breeding operation for Morgan and Andalusian horses — are his fond recollections of the day he had at the Orleans County Fair.

He views it as his most treasured racing moment to date.

“It was an amazing feeling,” he said. “I’ve won three or four races in a day, but I shipped six hours on a whim, paddocked three horses myself, drove four on the day, raced three on my own, did everything myself – it was just unbelievable to experience that.

“It felt like a great accomplishment to go out of my comfort zone, to travel six hours and then be successful.”