Ohioan David Miller came back to Dayton in November and promptly reminded racing fans of what they’d been missing. (Photos Courtest of OHHA)
David Miller, the most accomplished Ohio standardbred driver of all-time, is back in Ohio seeking to become standardbred racing all-time collector of purse earnings.
By Bob Roberts for Press Pros
Perhaps the racing gods had this one scripted out decades ago. And, they were good sports not to spoil a feel-good story by telling David Miller how it plays out in advance.
Curtain up.
Veteran racing columnist Bob Roberts writes harness racing for the Ohio Harness Horseman Association.
Act I: A young Buckeye, born in Columbus and raised in Reynoldsburg, falls in love with harness racing with such verve, that he can’t wait to make it his career. To accelerate the pace of his dream of becoming a driver, he quits high school after his sophomore year, much to his mother’s chagrin.
Act II: After a few lean years, he’s a success, tearing it up at Lebanon Raceway and Scioto Downs. Predictably, the bright lights of The Meadowlands beckon, and he’s off to chase rich purses and paychecks. For the better part of three decades, he’s one of the best to throw a leg over a sulky at the New Jersey oval where he competed with Hall of Famers like John Campbell, Brian Sears, and Yannik Gingras.
Act III: As he approaches his 61sth birthday earlier this year, the wear and tear and travel, coupled with a longing for home, finally wins out.
Curtain down, house lights up, moving van on the road.
Miller, the most accomplished reinsman to come out of Ohio, is back in Ohio. He arrived Nov. 26 at Dayton Raceway and promptly won with Louisville GB, the first horse he sat behind at the Montgomery County oval.
And now, the countdown is underway. Miller is seeking to become standardbred racing all-time collector of purse earnings. He is chasing Campbell’s total of $299,892,141, and ends 2025 with just over $299,168,000 on the books. It would be oh so fitting if Miller, who made his first buck in Ohio, gets the record dollar in the state where it all started.
“It will be a great accomplishment for me, an honor,” said Miller. “Then it won’t be long before somebody comes along and takes it from me. But getting the record is something I can tell my grandson about some day.”
Miller and Campbell competed against each other at tracks across North America for dozens of years and became good friends.
Man for all seasons…weather has not stood in the way of David Miller’s record quest.
“Every time I see him, John is always saying ‘go get ‘em,’” said Miller. “He’s rooting for me.”
There may not be a more humble super star in professional sports than Miller. Which may help explain why he no longer needed the high profile of The Meadowlands and wanted to return to his racing roots in Ohio, a little more than a decade (2014) after being elected to the Hall of Fame.
“I would say that’s my greatest honor,” he said of his induction in Goshen, N.Y.
Like many “harness lifers,” Miller got the racing bug from his family.
“My dad (Donnie) put me in his lap when I was eight years old and around the track we’d go,” he said. ‘I started jogging horses when I was 10. I actually drove a matinee race at Mt. Gilead by the time I was 12. My uncle (Del) always drove, I’ve got cousins (including Brett) and grandpas in the game.”
Miller drove his first raceway winner at Lebanon in 1982, and while it’s been replaced by nearby Miami Valley, the Warren County track on North Broadway St. holds great memories for him as the place where he collected his first driving championship.
“That’s why I’d like to break the record at Miami Valley,” said Miller. “It’s Lebanon to me.”
Miami Valley’s race dates for 2026 are Jan. 4 thru May 2, a window that could see the purse money record fall.
The Ohio Harness Horseman’s Association is a sponsor of standardbred racing on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Miller’s beginnings in racing date back to the early 1980’s when he went to work for the late popular Buckeye horseman, Terry Holton. After a few years, Miller got a couple of horses to train through a friend of his mother who wanted into the game. At the time, he was employed by Ed Telle, a horseman he credits for a large part of his career development.
“Ed owned Big Bad John, with whom I won the Jug in 2011,’ said Miller. “He kind of got me my start as far as driving goes. He taught me a lot, like studying the program and the tendencies of other drivers. He let me drive all of his horses and then, catch-driving caught on, and here we are.”
And yes, one of those, too. Miller won the Little Brown Jug in 2018.
Here we are will now be Dayton Raceway, to be followed by nights at Miami Valley and Scioto Downs, as Miller has put The Meadowlands in his rear view mirror with a sigh of relief.
“It was the grind. I was there (The Meadowlands) 26 years and I felt like I had my run there, that it was getting stale,” he said. “I tossed it around for four or five years, about moving back home. Two years ago, I bought land in Wilmington and I’ve been excited to come home ever since. I built a house. Did I build it myself? Hmm. I just kept saying okay and giving them (the contractors) money.”
And that money came from Miller driving 14,849 winners (thru Dec. 29), which ranks him fifth on the all-time list behind runaway leader Dave Palone’s 21,462 winners.
Among Miller’s catalog of winners are five Little Brown Jug champions – No Pan Intended in 2003, Shadow Play in 2008, Big Bad John in 2011, Betting Line in 2016, and Courtly Choice in 2018. He is tied with Billy Haughton and Michel Lachance for the most Jug wins.
His most memorable Jug is the one with No Pan Intended. And it came on an afternoon when he won 10 races at the Delaware Fairgrounds.
“No Pan Intended gave me great thrills, especially being my first Jug. It was an emotional win,” said Miller. “The whole story with him is a Cinderella story. I drove him for the first time as a three-year-old in May in a non-winner of two. Yes, there were tears in the winner’s circle.”
As great as the Jug successes have been for Miller, there’s the nightmare of the 2017 Hambletonian. Whenever the subject comes up, he must deal with the worst day of his outstanding career. He crossed the finish line first with What The Hill, only to be disqualified for interference in the most famous trotting race in North America.
“That is something, to be honest with you, I don’t think about it until somebody brings it up. It’s one of those very disappointing, disgusting things,” said Miller. “It’s like asking Dan Marino (of the Miami Dolphins) if he’s happy with his career and he says, ‘Well, I’ve never won a Super Bowl,’ and somebody says, ‘well you hold every other record,’ and he says, ’Well, I’d rather win a Super Bowl.’
As poor as his Hambletonian record is (winless in 21 finals), Miller has an incredible record in the Breeder Crown. Not only has he won 30 BC championship miles, he has won a race in every division of the annual smorgasbord of season-ending high end stakes. Among those victories is the 2017 sophomore trot with the Hambo disqualified What The Hill.
After 45 years in the sulky, Miller continues to enjoy what he’s doing.
“I plan on racing as much as I can. Fairs next summer? Yes, I’ll be at ones in my area. I’ll go to Kentucky, because there are a couple of horses I drove that are coming back next year. My biggest thing is I don’t want to get on an airplane anymore to go drive a horse. If I can drive there, fine. If not, there are tons of good drivers out there.”
But none with the nickname of nicknames – Purple Jesus.
“It started at Lebanon, probably in the late 1980’s,” said Miller, whose colors are purple and white. “I won a lot of races there and people would say, ‘you were locked in but you got out and won.’ A couple of buddies picked up on it and came up with Purple Jesus. I’ve heard it since I’ve been back (at Dayton). I love it.”
Heavenly, isn’t it?
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