Looking back…”They told me after surgery that I could walk. And after I was pretty comfortable I began doing it. It’s only been the last couple of weeks I was able to get about without a walker or a cane.” – David Miller (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Six weeks after a horrific on-track accident, David Miller returned to Scioto Downs Friday to continue his assault on father time, the winner’s circle and the record book. His story, and the image of how it all happened, is enough to make you shiver.
Columbus, OH — David Miller made a comeback the way only David Miller could make a comeback.
Win, win, win and, oh yeah, win.
Minster Bank is the official banking resource for Press Pros Magazine.com.
It was just 63 days ago when Miller was involved in a harness racing catastrophe at Scioto Downs. Chances are, as choatic as anything the Ohio State Highway Patrol ever saw on I-70.
Hall of fame writer Hal McCoy covers the UD Flyers and OHHA harness racking exclusively for Press Pros.
Braeview Bondi A, driven by Luke Hanners, was leading the 15th race as the pack bolted down the backstretch.
Suddenly Braeview Bondi A stumbled and went down as if it was punched between the eyes. Hanners had the horse in front at that point.
So behind him, five horses and drivers had no place to go but in the wrong places — sideways and upside down and horses tumbled and drivers flew from their spill all over the track.
Miller was right behind Hanners on Rose Run Yannick and was the first to make contact. Like four other drivers, he was ejected from his sulky and spent consider air time, as much as a pole vaulter without a pole, before crash landing on Scioto’s unforgiving sand-and-limestone track.
Miller suffered a compound fracture of an ankle that required surgery. Kayne Kauffman and Aaron Merriman suffered severe injuries.
Tyler Smith and Trevor Smith were evaluated at a hospital, suffered no major injuries, and were released. Every horse walked away unharmed.
The Ohio Harness Horseman’s Association is a sponsor of standardbred racing on Press Pros Magazine.com.
After 63 days of rehabilitation and idleness, the 61-year-old Miller, walking with a slight limp, returned to his comfort zone this week, a seat behind a pacer or a trotter and accident be damned.
It was his first night back Friday at Scioto…and it didn’t take him long to find the winner’s circle.
He came close in Race 6 behind a trotter named Best Friend Volo. He lost by a neck to Abbey D, driven by, uh, Luke Hanners.
Miller noticed that top-of-the-stables trainer Virgil Morgan entered two mares in the seventh race. And, uh, Luke Hanners was listed to drive both.
David Miller drives Pants On Fire to a win in the second race of Saturday’s night card at Eldorado Scioto Downs.
“I had driven Foxy Hill at Miami Valley, so I called Virgil and offered to drive her,” he said. “I like her, she’s a real nice mare.”
Who would say no to David Miller, who has won over $300 million in purses and won every noteworthy race except the chariots in the Roman Colosseum.
So Miller was in the seat behind Foxy Hill and Hanners was driving Odds On Chesapeake. And there was a stunning finish.
Miller and Hanners came to the wire nose-to-nose, neck-to-neck — a dead heat. But it was a win.
And how was it to be back tugging the reins? Any negative thoughts or trepidations?
“Oh, no,” he said quickly as he sat on a bench in the massive paddock at Scioto Saturday night, a steady rain outside pelting the track for the night’s early races.
“Believe me, it crossed my mind, but we got along good,” he said.
Getting along good with horses for Miller is the way oat meal gets along with milk. The perfect blend.
“It was good,” he said. “I had been out training and I probably did six to eight training trips before I ever attempted to come back.
“It went along great and it felt good, but training is a little bit different than racing,” he added.
All who witnessed the May 8 mayhem on the backstretch wondered if some the drivers might ever take a seat again. And David Miller’s driver cousin, Brett Miller, said, “To tell the truth, I was afraid David was dead. It was that bad.”
“The man is just a cannibal for competition. He’s won more money than anyone else, so he’s checked that off his list. And at this stage he just enjoys the competition.” – Chris Page
David Miller had no thoughts at retiring and was buoyed by what he was told at the hospital.
“They told me when I was in line to get surgery done, ‘You’ll be walking tomorrow.’ I was like, ‘Pshaw, right,’” said Miller.. “They told me all along walk on it, walk on it.”
And he was as he put it, “Pretty much laid up for about a month. Once I was pretty comfortable, I began doing it. But it’s only been the last couple of weeks I was able to get about without a walker or a cane. I might have rushed back a little bit, but not too much.”
Oh, yeah. He rushed right back into the winner’s circle time and time again.
After his Friday return, Miller was on full-go Saturday night.
His night began in the second and third races and it is probably his cautious personality that he steered a novice better away from plopping a few bucks on those two horses.
He was in the seat behind Pants on Fire, a $16,500 pace, and before taking the track said, “I’m not real confident with this one.”
Then, of course, he went out and won the race.
“They said he’s not been training good. I couldn’t have endorsed him. I haven’t driven him since May,” he said.
Of course, he hadn’t driven anything but his truck since May.
EB Real Estate, Darke County’s sales leader, proudly sponsors the best area sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.
So, he was asked, “How about your second race, the third race on the program, a $12,000 pace?” He was driving Sting Blue Chip.
“He’s a 2-year-old and he looks like he’s a bit outmatched,” said Miller.
Then, of course, he went out and won again.
Chris Page, the dynamic and dandy driver who leads Scioto’s driver standings, just ahead of Luke Hanners, won the eighth race Saturday, $50,000 Ohio Sires Stakes, driving Iluvmymoni.
And he marvels about David Miller when asked about the man’s return to racing after the six-horse pile-up.
“I mean, the man is just a cannibal for competition because he’s won all those races,” said Page. “And I think he won three more tonight.”
“He’s won more money than anyone else, so he’s checked that off his list,” Page continued. “So at this stage, he just enjoys the competition and he’s 20 years older than me.
“If it ever comes to the point when I don’t enjoy the competition and going to the winner’s circle, then it’s time to hang up the covers,” Page added.
“And obviously it’s not that time for David Miller.”
Nope. Not now. Not ever in the near future. Not for a guy who’s won five Little Brown Jugs, and comes back at 61 years old after crushing crash to win races right away.
And what does he remember about the mind-boggling mishap.
“I haven’t even talked to Luke yet about what happened with his horse,” said Miller. “I made the lead right off the gate. He covered me up. The horse looked fine when he passed me. He didn’t look lame and looked good-gaited.
“I don’t know what happened other than he went down…uh, yeah, a bunch of us went down,” he added. “You try to grab, but there’s no way you could avoid it. I go over him and the rest started going over everybody. It was ugly.”
It was ugly, indeed. But for David Miller, that’s in the past and he is back in the present.
And for him, the present is nothing more than driving into the winner’s circle.
The Dave Arbogast family of dealerships proudly sponsors OHHA harness racing on Press Pros Magazine.com.