TYLER 'TJ' MILLER IS MONTICELLO-GOSHEN'S RISING STAR
While pedigree is important when selecting yearlings, it can also be helpful when embarking on a career that requires a lot of hard work and hands-on experience. Tyler Miller had all of those boxes checked when he set out on a career to become a winning harness driver ...
GOSHEN, NY -- November 25, 2024 -- While pedigree is important when selecting yearlings, it can also be helpful when embarking on a career that requires a lot of hard work and hands-on experience. Tyler Miller had all of those boxes checked when he set out on a career to become a winning harness driver.
Due to his rapid ascension into prominence, Tyler Jay Miller will be the recipient of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) Monticello-Goshen Chapter’s Rising Star Award at their annual awards banquet in Campbell Hall, NY.
Hailing from the superstar family of Andy and Julie Miller, and learning firsthand how to care for, rig, train and ultimately drive Standardbred racehorses in a few short years, the 26-year-old reinsman has risen swiftly to the upper ranks among the ‘young guns’ catch drivers he calls colleagues.
Wearing the familiar colors of the well-known ‘Orange Crush,’ Miller was the third leading driver at this season’s Tioga Downs (73 wins) extended pari-mutuel meeting, and currently ranks third among dash winning reinsmen at the current Freehold meet with 96 victories.
In fact, Miller is on pace for a career year where he should surpass 200 wins and has already racked up $1.5 million in purses. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that 2021 was his first full season of driving where he grabbed 81 wins and $935,708 in purses.
Filled with youthful exuberance, yet focused with an ‘old soul’ mindset, Miller is soft spoken but confident, optimistic yet grounded in the present. If that sounds nothing like the average ‘Zoomer’ or person born into Generation ‘Z’ you would be correct. Born in 1998 in Hinsdale, Illinois, the family moved to New Jersey when he was eight. TJ Miller started working at his parent’s stable at Gaitway Farms shortly thereafter.
“My first job at the barn was on Saturday’s, washing jog carts, sweeping up, doing stalls–mostly grunt work around the farm,” noted Miller.
That progressed to taking care of horses and then jogging horses, and pitching in where it was needed. He started training horses at age 15. Shortly thereafter he was in a race bike.
How that happened caught the young man by surprise.
“There was no warning, and he didn’t tell me that we were [training to a race bike] that day,” Miller recalls.
“My dad said, ‘There is no time to think about it, we have to train these things. You just gotta get on and go.’”
Miller first drove in qualifiers and baby races at Gaitway at age 19, and then in the amateur races at Freehold and the Meadowlands in 2018 at the age of 20. Getting experience behind the gate and getting out there in less pressured situations helped prepare him for the challenges of catch driving today.
“I am one of the very few people to win my first drive at The Meadowlands,” he fondly recalls.
Despite this quick bit of success, he and his family agreed that it was important to obtain a proper education. During his formative driving years, he simultaneously earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Leadership and Management at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ.
“College gave me the opportunity to step outside of the horse business for a while, which made me realize that I don’t think I could live without the horses. So I graduated college and dove right in,” Miller stated.
Dive in indeed, as Miller now has over 5,000 starts, primarily accrued over the last four years. Looking back, he is confident he is on the right path.
“When I first started, I just showed up every day at Freehold so that the local horsemen knew I was available. It just took off from there.”
Aspiring to make the most of the opportunities that he has in front of him, he was quick to point out that he has not set strict earnings or dash win goals for himself.
“I just try to make the most of what comes my way,” Miller noted. “Racing at Freehold has taught me how to deal with different situations. Things don’t always work out the way they may look in the program. It teaches you how to maximize results with limited horse power.”
While Miller feels like he is steadily improving, he has no plans for any jurisdictional changes. He appreciates the chance to drive at the Big M when the Grand Circuit drivers are out of town or on vacation, and someday looks forward to driving some of the best horses in the country.
“Everyone wants to drive at the Meadowlands. It is the toughest place to ‘make it,’ so just being able to drive there is awesome in itself.”
Miller credits his experience with his parents as one of the most important parts of learning about horsemanship in general, and for all that they have taught him about the sport.
“I learn a lot more at the barn than anywhere else, however, my dad has taken a hands-off approach to my driving. He never tells me how to drive, or what I should, or should not, have done. He has let me figure it out on my own, which has helped me in the long run.”
“At the end of the day it is only you out there!”
When the Monticello-Goshen USHWA Chapter holds their 65th annual Awards Banquet, presented by the New York Sire Stakes, on Sunday, December 8, 2024, Tyler ‘TJ’ Miller will receive the chapter’s Rising Star Award.
This year at our new, larger venue the chapter has been given the opportunity to include the New York Sire Stakes and U. S. Trotting District 8 Awards., which will be in addition to the year-end awards for horses and horse people from the local tracks.
The Monticello-Goshen chapter will also honor Eddie Hart (Lifetime Achievement Award); Steve Jones (John Manzi Leadership Award); Kim Crawford (Excelsior Award); Heather Reese Marshall (John Gilmour Good ‘Gal’ Award); Irv Atherton (Amy Bull Crist Distinguished Service Award); Jessica Otten (Phil Pines Award);; Carolyn Atherton (Cradle of the Trotter Breeders Award); Andrew Adamcyzk (Amateur Driver); and Dale Berenson (Mighty M Award of Appreciation).
Tickets for the gala event at the new venue, The Country Club at Otterkill, Campbell Hall, NY, can be reserved by contacting Shawn Wiles at 845.798-4074, or Email: swiles@rwcatskills.com
To place a congratulatory ad in the souvenir journal, please contact Chris Tully at 845.807.7538, or Email: tullytrot@yahoo.com
