Blessed Beginning, a sophomore filly named for the Indiana birthing center where Eric and Marijane Miller’s daughter survived a traumatic birth, is providing on-track kismet for her breeders, as well as new owner Jesse Bilbrey.

by James Platz

Sophomore pacing filly Blessed Beginning has only competed in three races in her career, yet she has left an indelible mark in the lives of those to which she is connected, and for entirely different reasons. Sidelined as a freshman, the JK Endofanera—She’s Glorious lass has collected two wins at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing and Casino in the early going. Her racing career has only just begun, too.

Blessed Beginning’s name is rooted in an event that could have turned tragic if not for a miraculous ending. Eric Miller, one of the filly’s breeders, gave the pacer her moniker after the traumatic birth of his daughter, Lindsey. The first child of Miller and his wife, Marijane, Lindsey’s June 2022 delivery was met with serious complications.

“When our daughter was born, she didn’t breathe for 11 minutes,” Eric said. “Our doctor, Dr. Jana [Schenkel], she was amazing. Obviously, it was a pretty traumatic experience for us at first.”

The Millers chose to use a birthing tub at Blessed Beginnings Care Center in Nappanee, IN, under the guidance of Schenkel, a midwife and care provider. After 11 excruciating minutes, Lindsey took her first breath. Immediately color began to return to the newborn’s body, radiating out from her chest. Afterwards, she was transferred to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) in nearby Mishawaka for further observation.

“It’s an unbelievable blessing to our family that there’s nothing wrong with our daughter,” Eric said. “I mean, the doctor said she’d never seen where a baby went that long without breathing and nothing was wrong. That’s pretty incredible to go without oxygen that long, and yet they say that there’s no side effects. It’s just a total blessing for us through and through.

“It was traumatic at first and kind of surreal now that our daughter is 2 and she’s doing well. She’s kind of getting into the terrible 2s a little bit.”

When it came time to name the filly that had foaled on March 31 of that year, the choice was simple. She was christened Blessed Beginning after the care center.

Bred by Eric, his father, Doyle, and brother, Kevin, the pacer was entered in the 2023 Hoosier Classic Sale. She was cataloged to sell on the first day as Hip #39. Part of the In-Law Stable’s consignment, Blessed Beginning was hammered down for $25,000, purchased by trainer Zach Miller and his wife, Dessa, (no relation to the breeders), along with partners Marvin Schwartz and Jesse Bilbrey. For Bilbrey, a resident of Crossville, TN, the filly represented his entry into the ownership game.

“I’d actually been a fan of the sport ever since I was little,” Bilbrey said. “You know, my fascination actually started with dogs down in Panama City Beach, FL, where we used to vacation. As I grew up, my grandpa and I would go out to Hoosier Park.”

Working as a finance manager at East Tennessee Dodge Chrysler Jeep RAM, Bilbrey was ready to enter the business, but struggled to connect with a trainer until he found Zach and Dessa, messaging them through Facebook.

“It was really hard to find connections or contacts even,” Bilbrey said. “You know, I couldn’t really find too many phone numbers. I felt like nobody really wanted to respond, but Zach did. I basically started sending out messages to a few different trainers. Zach was the one person that really took an ample amount of time to respond to me. I’d ask one question and I felt like I got a book back every time. And I was like, this is my kind of guy.”

Attending the Hoosier Classic Sale that year, Bilbrey said that Blessed Beginning was one of the top horses on their list.

“Her video stood out to us; the pedigree stood out to us,” he said. “When it came time, she was in budget. She did expand that budget just a little bit. But sometimes you have to do that with a horse that you really like.”

Without knowing the origins of the filly’s name, Bilbrey liked it due to the tie-in to his entry into harness racing with his wife and children.

“I think when Zach pulled the trigger on getting her, he told us that it was #39 and her name,” Bilbrey said. “I was like, ‘Wow, that’s kind of fitting.’ You know, one of the only horses that has something to do with a start or beginning of something. And this is literally what this is for us. It kind of gave you some goosebumps when you read the name and you kind of put the whole picture together. It’ll shake out in the end how it’s supposed to, and I truly feel that way. The name definitely stood out to me and I thought it was a little ironic.”

Once he learned of the events leading to the name, Bilbrey added, “The connection that the name means for each one of us comes from a different place. It’s an emotional experience for them as it is for us.”

The way the season shook out in 2024 was filled with disappointment. Before Blessed Beginning was able to make it to the races, she sustained an injury in May and was shelved for the remainder of the year.

“She had a slight injury to a hind sesamoid last year,” Zach said. “Didn’t actually break, but just had her puffed up a little bit, and I think I’d been in like [2:]15 with her or something around there. I thought she was a really nice horse. The vet told us we could have given her 30 days off and start her back, but that was mid-May. So, by the time we would have given her 30 days off it would have been mid-June, which means it would have been October before she was ready. So, we just decided to give her a year and let everything heal up.”

With the extra time to heal and grow, Blessed Beginning is off to a promising start in 2025. Steered by Marcus Miller, the sophomore won her pari-mutuel debut in a time of 1:54.3, then followed it with a 1:55.3 score in the opening leg of the Miss Windfall series. In her latest effort she finished second in the latest Miss Windfall round Thursday (April 10). She was timed in 1:53.2.

“The long-term goal is sire stakes, but we’re still not sure if she’s really good enough for that yet,” Zach said. “We’re hoping she’s a sire stakes mare yet, but she’s got to show us that she is. Right now, she’s just doing good in a non-winners of one. Everything she’s shown us so far says that she has a really good chance to be.”

While Bilbrey bought into two other horses that raced last season, he was excited to see his first purchase reach the track this spring. He was not disappointed as Blessed Beginning paced home in :26.1 to capture her debut and close in :27.1 over a sloppy surface April 3.

“She had a terrible draw and drew outside in her first two starts, but she found a way to win,” Bilbrey said. “And Marcus gave her a good drive both times. But the closing speed so far is really what’s kind of shocked me the most. And it gave me the most optimism, I think, for her moving forward.”

Eric and his family also follow the filly’s progress. They are thrilled with her early success at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.

“It’s been pretty special to watch this filly start her career,” he said. “Hopefully, she continues to do good things for them. We wish them nothing but the best in the future.”

She’s Glorious delivered another JK Endofanera filly a few weeks ago. The newborn pacer arrived three years to the day after her older sister, foaled by The Panderosa mare on March 31.