Miranda Shedron enjoys getting jackpots from ‘Casino’

by Chris Lomon

It was a third-place result that very much felt like Miranda Shedron had hit the jackpot.

As the field turned for home in the first race at Northfield Park on Feb. 17, there was little doubt who the winner would be in the pace dash with a $5,300 purse.

But for Shedron, her eyes remained fixated on Casino Director, the 75-1 longest shot on the board in the field of nine.

With her fiancé Angus Lake in the race bike, the 12-year-old son of Art Director out of the Village Jove mare Casino Bus, who had been fifth at the three-quarter mark, marched home in :30.0 to take third spot, 7¼ lengths behind the winner, Dancethewayuare.

Shedron, who also owns Casino Director, was unapologetically proud of the veteran campaigner’s gritty showing.

“He’s getting older, but he’s still a competitor,” Shedron said. “It’s not even on the program when he got his last check. I was just so appreciative of that result. It felt so good.”

Seven races later, Shedron sent out fellow pacer, 4-year-old Gorgeous Jet, to a third in the $8,600 dash.

“He was outside almost the whole mile and finished up awesome, like a beast,” she said. “In this sport, there is always next week – better times are coming. So, when you do experience those good times, it makes it that much more rewarding.”

Shedron, who hails from Dundee, OH, was destined to find a life in harness racing.

Growing up in the Buckeye State, she saw, first-hand, the joy her father, Ralph Miller, derived from the pacers and trotters who were under his tutelage.

“I grew up on a farm and we had our own track, so I felt a connection to racing at a very young age,” she said. “I was probably around 6 years old when I knew I was going to be in racing one day.”

In 2019, Shedron launched her training career, winning two races and posting seven top-three finishes from 19 starts.

Fittingly, it was Casino Director — her heart horse — who delivered the first victory.

Shedron’s superlatives for the horse are seemingly endless.

“He is amazing,” she said. “I have had him since 2019, and we have been through a lot together. My first win as a trainer was at our fair, Wayne County. It was a Tri-County pace — only people who train in that area could enter — and it wasn’t much money, but it was a great moment, one I will never forget. It is a race he has won five out of seven years, four of them consecutively.”

Casino Director’s on-track prowess is matched by a colorful off-track personality.

“He loves bananas,” Shedron said. “He’ll eat them frozen, peel, and everything. He is just a fun little horse. He has a lot of quirks. For about four years, I couldn’t sit on his back. Now, I can go out and ride him bareback and hang out together. When it is time to race, there are moments when he doesn’t want to come out of his stall or he won’t come out when he has his Murphy Blind on or won’t let me catch him in his stall.

“He knows when the vet pulls up and he won’t let you catch him in his stall. I have to catch him before the vet pulls in.”

One particular evening, Shedron had to work overtime to corral Casino Director in a far different scenario.

The drive home from the racetrack went from calm to chaotic in a split-second.

“We were coming home from Northfield Park and I got him on the trailer,” she said. “We started driving and the trailer flipped. He was running down I-71 and when I got to him, there was no halter – nothing. I screamed his name and he came back to me. A lady gave me a set of jumper cables, and I walked him back to where he was safe. This is the middle of I-71. Tractor-trailers are screaming by and there is so much going on. But he waited for me. He had paced in :52 that night, but he was probably going :49 down the highway.”

With that moment gone from the rear-view mirror, Shedron, who produced her best season, by purse earnings ($105,012), in 2025, will continue to maintain the looking ahead approach she had established long ago.

It is the simple things that help push her forward.

“When I walk into the barn and they pop their heads out and talk to me, it is such a wonderful feeling,” she said. “And when I feed them and you hear them munching on their food – as long as I know they are okay, then I am okay. It is a great thing to walk into the barn and feel as though they need me and want me there.

“I just love that each one has their own little personality – nothing is the same from horse to horse. I like the challenge of working with horses and bringing out the best in them.”

Shedron also appreciates the times when her small stable can outpace larger-scale operations on the racetrack.

“The biggest challenge is going up against the bigger stables,” she said. “You look at entries and see who you are racing against and figure you have no shot. And the announcers make their picks and you feel again as though you have no shot. But when you win that race, it makes it much more special.”

When they do, a beaming Shedron is there to greet them.

“I will tell them, ‘Good boy, or good girl,’” she said. “I love those times.”

Away from the racetrack, Shedron is content to shut off the racing world for a while – with one caveat.

“I will look at the video of the barn and make sure all my horses are okay,” she said. “All I know is the barn and home. I live next door to my parents. My dad is in a nursing home now, but I can just pop in any time and check on my mom.”

At the barn, Lake and Shedron work in lockstep to keep things running smoothly.

“The ups and downs can be really tough, but we are on the same page with our horses,” she said.

A group that includes a pair of young prospects.

“We also own half of two babies,” Shedron said. “We are training those two down and we have high hopes for them.”

An opportunity to dream big and, perhaps, to hit another jackpot.