Alvin Miller’s latest ‘Tell’ is another INSS contender

by James Platz

Tonight (Aug. 28), Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino will play host to the fourth round of Indiana Sires Stakes (INSS) action for freshman pacing colts, with two divisions slated on the 14-race card. Tell Me It’s You, trained by Alvin Miller, looks to make it two straight in INSS competition after winning last Friday (Aug. 21) in 1:50.3. He lines up in post 2 in the second division, carded as race 11, and is the veteran horseman’s latest promising young pacing colt.

Tell Me It’s You has hit the board in five of six seasonal starts for Miller, who owns the gelding in partnership with Twila Harts and Marvin Schwartz. The son of Tellitlikeitis has reached the winner’s circle in his last two attempts, and has earned $67,725. Tell Me It’s You looks to be one of the better colts in the division, and yet another budding Tellitlikeitis progeny developed by Miller.

Consider the colts by Tellitlikeitis that the conditioner has turned into top racehorses. According to Pathway statistics, Miller has three among the top 20 earners by Tellitlikeitis: millionaire Tellmeaboutit p, 6, 1:47.4s (second), M-M-s Bud p, 5, 1:48.3s, a winner of just shy of $400,000 (14th), and Chandler Bing p, 4, 1:49.1s, 2024 Super Final winner with earnings of $375,000 (17th). All three are among the 10 fastest by the sire. He also trains sophomore King Tellit, who is approaching $100,000 in career earnings with a mark of 1:49.3, taken last Saturday night. Miller is not a horse whisperer, but he has shown a knack for getting the best out of the “Tells” in his barn. Each of the pacers listed above required patience, and in turn, paid dividends.

“The biggest problem I think most people have with them is that they are a little quirky,” Miller said. “It takes patience, but I think where a lot of guys get in trouble with them is they come to their speed early, and they go too much too early… The biggest thing I see is they can go way more than they need to, long before their body needs to. So, if you get one that can actually go, the hardest part is just keeping your foot on the brakes.”

That notion of keeping the foot on the brakes can be hard, particularly with the allure of the purse money available in the Hoosier State’s sires stakes program. But Miller has shown the patience and discipline needed to best manage a young horse, going as far as skipping sires stakes legs when needed, bypassing a purse check for the bigger picture. And the results speak to the success of his strategy.

In Tell Me It’s You, the owner/trainer has another up-and-coming Indiana-sired colt. For all the polish the pacer displayed last week in a 3¼ length score, a lot of work went into getting the gelding to that point.

“It was a real challenge to get him steerable and get him happy in the mouth,” the trainer said. “He’s always wanted to go. But just trying to keep him quiet and keep his head on straight was the challenge. When I first started him, it was hard to keep him happy, get him steering halfway decent. He was fussy about his mouth.”

Miller changed Tell Me It’s You’s bit multiple times, tinkering repeatedly before finding the right fit. Addressing the freshman’s comfort went a long way in unlocking his potential. In turn, the results are showing on the track.

“He was good training down,” Miller said. “He was always going the most at the end of the mile, so I was pretty sure he could go. I didn’t have him happy in the mouth and he wasn’t happy with his bit. If you want to get him to settle down, you don’t want to make a one-dimensional horse out of him. That was kind of a challenge to start with. I covered him up, plugged his ears up a little tighter, which he had a hood on all along. I just kept changing bits and working with him at home until I finally got him something that he seems to accept. The biggest thing that’s made him get better is the bit change.”

Tell Me It’s You has contested each of the three previous Indiana Sires Stakes legs, finishing second and fourth for driver John De Long before securing his division last time out. Although he hasn’t missed a check, the gelding has improved markedly in his last two starts, beginning with the $20,000 Johnny Wattles final. In that event, part of the Dan Patch Stakes undercard at Hoosier Park, Tell Me It’s You and Yannick Gingras took control after the quarter and blasted home in :26.1 to trip the timer in 1:50.1.

The Oakwood Farms-bred freshman backed up that effort with an equally-impressive mile last week. This time, with De Long in the bike, Tell Me It’s You took a similar path, sitting second through the opening quarter before moving to the lead. The Tellitlikeitis—Kitty Hoyne product maintained a comfortable advantage on the front, then stormed home in 26 seconds to win by open lengths.

“Hopefully we’re rounding the corner,” Miller said. “The last couple of times, he’s acted pretty good. Hopefully we haven’t found the bottom of the barrel yet. I feel like there’s more left, but he’s coming along. I liked the way [De Long] was able to sit in with him for a little bit, and then when he moved him, he went forward.”

If Tell Me It’s You continues to improve, he could become the next stellar Tellitlikeitis colt from the Alvin Miller barn.