Life inevitably involves choices. Driver Marcus Miller made one decision back in 2013 to pursue his career on the East Coast and a decade later, now with family in tow, the Illinois native has changed course again and landed in Indiana. "I've always known I was going to move back to the Midwest eventually. Last year when my brother-in-law Atlee got injured in that wreck at Oak Grove it kind of shifted my schedule. I ended up spending a lot of time out here last year anyway, and it just seemed like I had my foot in the door. We were kind of looking for a change; my boys are the right age where a move would be easy for them, so we decided to head back that way," said the 35-year-old driver. The original plan called for Miller, his wife Sara and their two boys to move around this time in 2025. That all changed when they found the perfect house a bit quicker than expected. The Millers bought the home around Christmas time and everyone has settled in nicely. With his new abode about 30 minutes away, Miller plans to call Harrah's Hoosier Park his work-life home. He'll have to start fresh in some respects, but also has an "Ace" in his hand with his father Erv Miller conditioning a large stable in the region. "I've been here before even though it was a long time ago, so I know people here," said Miller about picking up drives at Hoosier. "My dad has a large stable here and that will help. Me and [brother-in-law] Atlee [Bender] will probably split those drives up. There are definitely some unknowns and I'm going to have to look at it from the perspective of being the new guy, but I'm up for a new challenge." Even though Miller was an established driver before he left the Illinois circuit, about 3,000 of his 4,740 career wins have come on the East Coast at tracks like Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, Yonkers Raceway, the Meadowlands and Harrah's Philadelphia. He drove horses to approximately $50 million in earnings from 2013 to 2024 during that time, and while he's now some 650 miles away from those tracks now, he appreciates the time he spent there. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter "I'm really happy with the way it went and I learned a lot," said Miller about his time on the East coast. "Obviously it could always have been better, but I'm happy with it and it was good for my driving career racing between Yonkers, Pocono, the Meadowlands and all those other tracks. I don't feel like I'm running away and I'm happy with the way it went. "I grew up in the Midwest and I wanted my boys to grow up in the Midwest too. Nothing against Pennsylvania, but it never really felt like home to me the same way that the Midwest does." With opening night at Hoosier still a week away on March 14, Miller had plenty of downtime on his hands and made the decision to compete at Hawthorne Racecourse. It was a bit of a full circle experience for the former leading driver at the now defunct Maywood and Balmoral Parks in the Chicago area. "We had a few Illinois-breds that were pretty good through the stakes races. We ended up finding a house a little earlier; I thought I'd move now but we found a house that we loved. We were already there and no place else was really racing yet, so I just kind of kept going," said Miller about his Hawthorne appearances. "Surreal is probably the right word. It was fun though to see a lot of the people I grew up with. I wasn't racing for a lot of money but I enjoyed it. It is sad to see what has happened to the Illinois product, and I hope it can make a turnaround at some point." Miller is excited about his prospects at Hoosier Park, not just in overnights but also with Sire Stakes. He also isn't ruling out the possibility of travel should the right horses come his way. "The Indiana Sire Stakes are as good as anywhere it seems. There are so many of them who now hold their own against anyone, so I think it is probably easier to stick with an Indiana-bred from a catch-driver perspective than a PA or New Jersey horse," said Miller. "Hopefully I'll latch on to something that is good enough to travel a little bit." Ultimately Miller's move is about family. There will be no more doubleheaders in his future with travelling from track to track on a daily basis. He'll get to be at home more and feel that way as well. "I've never actually lived in the state of Indiana before now, but it feels like I'm coming home. My sister [Hannah] has a little baby now, Linden, she's turning 1 in a week or so. For all the kids to grow up together, that seems like the most important thing to me right now," concluded Miller.