by James Platz

At the height of his involvement as an owner, John McGill possessed an equine portfolio that included all or pieces of up to 50 horses. Upon retirement a few years ago, he divested of his racing interests, but recently returned to the game with a much smaller presence. Partnering with Matt Miller on freshman trotting colt Sure Did, the duo find themselves in the thick of the action, recently winning an Indiana Sires Stakes division at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino.

“I now own half of one,” McGill keenly said. “We were in it for about 15 years. At the top we had close to 50. We had good luck with it, but it was a lot of paperwork. We were ready to be done with it.”

But the owner was not completely out of the industry. He is a 50-50 partner on roughly a dozen broodmares that he breeds each year and sells yearlings each fall. Despite stepping away from racing, he jumped back in during the fall of 2022 when talking to Miller. 

“I got out of it and then I started hanging around Matt,” McGill said of his 25-year-old partner. “But he keeps me on the straight because he only wants one and he doesn’t want to spend much. He’s a good influence on me. He knows conformation really well. He’s grown up in the business, and he does a really nice job picking out a horse. We don’t buy the $40,000 and $50,000 ones, so we have to try to keep it under $20,000.”

For his part, Miller has a methodical approach to buying yearlings. At age 18 he purchased his first horse, Trump This, who would go on to hit the board in sires stakes competition. He was hooked.

“I like colt trotters, that’s my pick,” he said. “Every year I go through the sale and look at every colt trotter. I don’t like to spend a lot. I mark the ones that I like and just wait for my price range.”

The early returns for the partnership have been strong. Miller purchased Flight Number One at the 2022 Hoosier Classic Yearling Sale for $13,000. The second foal from a CR Commando mare, the trotter won three times in nine freshman attempts, capturing an Indiana Sires Stakes leg and finishing fifth in the Super Final. Flight Number One earned $85,415 last season, and was sold earlier this year.

Their latest acquisition, Sure Did, has them back in contention in sires stakes after scoring a division Thursday (Aug. 15) with a 1:56.2 effort in the slop at Hoosier Park.

“There were times I would buy 12 yearlings each year, 15 at the high time, and sometimes none of them get to the track,” McGill said. “I think a lot of Matthew; he’s a good partner. He’s fun to be a partner with, and he sure knows how to pick them out. I tell ya, we’re high on this colt. We think they haven’t seen the last of him yet. He’s good-gaited and he’s got some speed.”

Purchased last fall for $19,000 at the Hoosier Classic, Sure Did is the full-brother to top Indiana fair winner Sure Do. The You Know You Do filly out of Challax Hanover won Governor’s Cup championships at ages 2 and 3, claiming victory in 13 of 18 sophomore starts. She earned over $112,000 on the racetrack, and it appears her little brother is equally capable. As Miller worked with the gelding this spring, he liked the progress Sure Did made in training, 

“I always liked his gait, and he had a great attitude,” Miller said. “In April, I trained him in 2:24. I told dad I think this is the best horse I’ve ever had. It was just how easy he did it. I felt like he had the talent to do it.”

Sure Did was sent to Walter Haynes, Jr., who quickly took note of the trotter’s ability.

“They trained him down to 2:15 and they sent him to me to finish him off,” Haynes said. “We gate schooled him in 2:01, last quarter in 28 seconds before I even qualified him. That’s when I told them he’s a nice colt, I don’t think he’s a fair horse.”

Sure Did made his debut on the fair circuit at Converse, where he won in gate-to-wire fashion with Haynes at the lines, trotting the mile in 2:09 with a near three-length margin on the field. Two weeks later he would win again, this time in fair action at Hoosier Park. Steered by Haynes, the freshman tripped the timer in 1:58.3.

“I always try to start at least one or two fairs because you don’t have to be on the gate if they’re scared of it, you don’t have to keep up, you don’t have to overdo it with them,” he said.

In his next four starts, all at Hoosier Park, Sure Did was guided by Jay Cross, who also piloted his sister during her first two seasons. In a pair of Indiana Sires Stakes legs the gelding finished third and fifth, but just as important as the points earned, the young trotter was educated on how to race.

“I just didn’t want to make him hot quick, and that’s why I put Jay on him too,” the conditioner said. “Jay’s about like me, he tries to take care of the horse and teach him first. With this horse, it probably wouldn’t have been very hard to make him a little crazy by sending him every start. Now he’s kind of got it together.”

Competing on Fox Stake Day at the Indiana State Fair, Sure Did finished second in the $42,695 Ralph Wilfong Memorial. Driven that day by Marvin Luna, the brown gelding trotted home in :26.1 and finished a half-length back of winner Starlitfranknstein. In his last start he broke through to claim his first sires stakes win, edging Ponda Rocky in a $67,000 division by a half-length. Luna was in the bike for the 1:56.2 score.

“The other night, that was one of his better races,” Haynes said. “He actually showed he had some grit to him. He got to hanging a little bit. When he gets beside a horse, he gets a little lost. Marvin told me, ‘I got to those horses and he kind of stalled on me. He couldn’t see them anymore so he didn’t know what to do.’”

With a little over $61,000 on his card, Sure Did has hit the board in six of eight seasonal starts, winning three times for the partnership. He is back in Saturday for the fourth round of sires stakes competition, drawing into the second of two $66,500 splits. Through three rounds, the John Bontrager, Jr.-bred trotter ranks fourth in divisional points, trailing two-time winners Eugene The Genius and Tarzan, as well as Starlitfranknstein. With three legs left before the Super Final, continued strong showings can solidify him as a threat in the October finale.

“I really think he’ll be a contender,” McGill said. “He’s sound and he wants to do his job. We’re looking forward to it.”