Standardbred driving legend David Miller talks with Hal McCoy: “I’ll drive until they tell me I can’t go out there anymore. I love it. It gives me peace.” – David Miller (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Because of his love for horses, Dave Miller quit high school to drive harness tracks and become one of the sport’s legends as a Hall of Famer with more than 15,000 wins…and $300 million in purse winnings…the leading driver this season at Miami Valley.
Lebanon, OH – Think Babe Ruth.
Think Jim Brown.
Think Wilt Chamberlain.
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Think Bobby Hull.
Think Jesse Owens.
Think Pele.
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All those sports legends are icons and what they are to their sport Dave Miller is to harness racing.
And like The Sultan of Swat, The Stilt, The Golden Jet and the Buckeye Bullet, Miller owns a sparkling nickname.
He is known as ‘The Purple Jesus’, derived from his purple colors and his omnipotence on the ovals. And he loves it.
“I picked that up at old Lebanon Raceway, where I won my first race,” he said. “Some guy started calling me that over the fence and it stuck. I was pretty successful there and I keep hearing it and I love it.”
Miller, at 61, has some unbelievable numbers attached to his name, numbers that boggle the mind.
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More than 15,000 wins. More than $300 million in winnings. And both totals keep mounting because Miller sits in a sulky nearly every day and his name fills the race program.
And he has no thoughts of giving up the reins, “Unless they take away my helmet,” he said moment of guiding Fear My Candy to victory in Race 2 at Miami Valley this week. “Until they tell me I can’t go out there any more.”
And who is going to tell him that? Nobody who has watched him guide Standardbreds down the lane.
Miller has become the most successful high school dropout in all of sports: “As soon as I got my [drivers license] I quit school.” He has since won more than 15,000 races and $300 million in racing purses.
Out east was Meadowlands, where the legend grew and grew.
It includes five wins in the Little Brown Jug. The first one was in 2003 and on that historic day he not only won the Jug, he won 10 races that day, which he believes was the best day he ever had as far as wins in one day.
“Oh, my God, that was amazing,” he said of his day at the Delaware County track. “Just amazing. I’ve won nine, eight a few times, but I think 10 is the most.”
But with more than 15,000 wins, who’s counting?
The Columbus native currently is driving at Miami Valley and he isn’t just driving, unless one means driving a horse to victory.
That he does in abundance. As the current season at Miami Valley concludes this week, Miller is the track’s leading driver with 155 wins.
His win behind Fear My Candy was the first of four winners that day, about average for Miller, who is winning at Miami Valley about 18 per cent of the time he sits in the sulky.
Needless to say, Miller was inducted into the the Harness Racing Hall of Fame, and the super nice guy with a humble personality is justly proud of that, especially since he was inducted in 2013. And thirteen years later, he continues to dominate.
But he adds, “Yes, that I’m in the Hall of Fame, but this here recently a broke a few records that I’m pretty proud of. The money earnings (more than $300 million) and I just got my 15,000th win.
He broke both records during the current Miami Valley season and said, “I never would have thought all that would happen when I started out. It has been a great career.”
Great? Is there a word above great?
Miller has to be one of the most successful high school dropout in all of sports, much to the chagrin of his mother.
“A horse named Magician is probably my favorite of all time. He was my Man O’ War.”
“As soon as I got my license, I quit school,” he said.
Racing courses through the family veins. His grandfather raced. He father raced. His uncle raced. His nephew raced. His cousin raced.
None, though, race like Dave Miller.
When he was a kid, his father used to sit Dave on his lap when he worked out horses, “When I was 8 or 9,” he said. “I was jogging horses with my dad.”
And a star was born.
“I just love horses,” he said. “I love being around them and, of course, I love to race. I literally just love horses. They give me such joy. They give me peace.”
They give him peace and a nice piece of change.
Asked if he has a favorite horse, he said, “I do. I have a couple of ‘em. A horse called Magician and Taste of Faith, some really good ones.
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“When I first went out east, I picked up Magician by accident,” he said. “He made $3 1/2 million for me at Meadowlands and all over. He raced all over, just a great horse.
“He won the Breeders Crown in 2002, beat probably the best horse I knew at the time, and he made a lot of my dreams come true.
Asked if Magician was his Man O’ War, Miller laughed and said, “Yes, for sure.”
And another huge accomplishment came Miller’s way in 2003 when he won harness racing’s Pacific Triple Crown behind No Pan Intended at Freehold, the Little Brown Jug, and at Meadowlands.
Not too many drivers have accomplished that feat and Miller says proudly but not boastfully, “I was the last guy to do it and that was 2003.”
It has only been done 10 times since the inaugural event in 1956 and some of the drivers are racing legends like Billy Haughton and Stanley Dancer.
And when Dave Miller’s name is mentioned, legend goes right behind his name.
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