At 26 years old, Tyler Miller is one of many “young gun” drivers and trainers currently competing in harness racing. From a family that is rich in Standardbred history, Miller has been steadily improving his numbers across the board since deciding to compete full-time in 2021. A regular at Freehold, The Meadowlands and Rosecroft, Miller took time out of his schedule to chat about his journey, what the future may hold and the involvement of young people in the sport. Enjoy!   How did you get started in harness racing? I started going to the track to watch races that my dad was in and then helping my parents out with their stable around freshman year of high school. The rest is history. Your dad Andy is a prominent driver and mom Julie is a top trainer. What have you learned from each along the way? From my mom it was more of the training side and how to prepare a horse so they are fit for the race. From my dad it was more how to take that fit horse and put it in the best spot to have an opportunity to succeed. Do you think having those connections helped your career kick start more quickly? The connections definitely helped, but I don’t know if it helped from a quickness standpoint. I think it helped more people know who I was and made them want to see what I can do. It definitely opened a door and allowed me to put a foot in and walk through it. Was there ever a chance you wouldn’t become a driver? Once I started working around the horses, I kind of knew that is what I wanted to do and being a driver was kind of my goal. I tried other opportunities to make sure that was what I wanted to do. I went to Ryder University and got a Bachelor’s degree in business management. I sort of got out of the business; well, you never really get out of it when you’re in my family, but I got away from the horses for a couple of years and really lived the college lifestyle to see if a corporate job was for me, and it definitely was not. Your first win came in 2018 and since then your win total and earnings have grown each year. Are you happy with the progression? I’d say I’m happy with it. It is definitely a grind and a slow methodical process, but if you just keep at it and never give up, the strong survive through everything. Do you think you are a better driver today than let’s say a year or two ago? Almost definitely; just the comfortability and I’m able to get more out of a horse than I was when I first started. Mostly though it is the confidence and comfortability. Is confidence that important? Oh yeah. You have to have confidence in your horse and think your horse can do the best for you. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? To me it is The Meadowlands. It is such a great track and venue. They do such a great job there. Jeff [Gural] and Jason [Settlemoir], they put on a great product, and it isn’t just the current racing but the history of that place on both sides. It is just amazing to look up and be a part of probably the best track in the country. What is your favorite thing to do outside of harness racing? Just taking time and relaxing with my family and enjoying life a little bit with the people who make life worth it. When you race almost every day you kind of use the days off to recover and be around the people who mean the most in your life. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know? I’ve watched almost every single episode of Law & Order Special Victims Unit and a couple of the other ones. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? The first word that comes to mind is resilient, because you have to be resilient to be in this business. You definitely get knocked down more times than you get picked up. You lose more than you win, so to be able to use that as fuel to win as much as you can is something that is great about the sport. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten about harness racing? If you are patient and show up when you’re asked to, things will come your way. Be patient, show up and work hard are the three key ingredients. Along those lines, right now you are currently driving at Rosecroft, Meadowlands and Freehold. Is that what you mean by showing up? I’m putting a lot of miles on the truck, that’s for sure. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter What made you decide to go to Rosecroft regularly? One of the trainers I drove for and had success for [Maria Alravez] in New Jersey started racing down there and they asked me if I would go down and drive their horses. What was your best moment in harness racing? One of the coolest moments was a year or two ago. It was my mom’s birthday and I won her 2,000th training win, and I had four or five wins that day. Which is the best horse you’ve ever driven? One of the horses I drove maybe a few years ago was Sandbetweenmytoes for Jim Campbell. He had won the Breeders Crown the year before. It was when a lot of the [regular drivers] were gone and I got to sit behind him and I won at the Meadowlands in 1:48 3/5, which is my fastest mile mark. It was so cool to sit behind a horse of that caliber. On the trotting side, there was a horse named Angel Nation who I really loved to sit behind. We bought him privately and he won three or four in a row in Pennsylvania and was in the Vincennes race on Hambletonian Day. Just to be able to drive on that day goes into the ‘best moments’ category. With the history of harness racing on Hambletonian Day, just to be in the program is a feat in its own. As a younger person, how can harness racing attract that audience? To be able to keep the attention of younger people we need to have more action. Something like prop bets or things like that. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? Just to be able to get younger interest into the sport. Over the last couple of years I do think there has been more youth interest. A couple of years ago there wasn’t any young drivers around and now there are probably five to 10 people under 30 who have a steady driving career. How do you view the future of harness racing? I hope it is around for my sake and all of the other young people in the business. You can look at from both sides, that it is a dying business and we need to find ways to help it survive for another 50 to 100 years or you can look at it from where a program like PA [Pennsylvania] can get weaker but the Midwest is flourishing. Ohio and Kentucky have really stepped up the game in comparison to the east coast with the money that is being race for. When you see what is going on in the Midwest it makes you think this sport can survive for 50-plus years. What does a day in the life of Tyler Miller look like? I wake up and head to my parents stable to help them train whatever is on tap that day; whether it is babies, or 3-year-old or just racehorses. Then I grab lunch and relax a little before going to a racetrack somewhere, whether it is Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania or New York. Looking at it from now, what is the perfect outcome for your career? The goal for my career is to be one of those top Hall of Famers who travel on the Grand Circuit and drive the best horses in the country. I’d love to be a part of that and hopefully win some of those big races along the way. That would be pretty cool in my book. So unlike some young drivers who seem content to race at home for good overnight purses, you want more? They are content racing where they are at and that is fine too, but I know I want to drive the best horses I possibly can. You are the eighth Miller I’ve interviewed for this series, many who are your relatives. Does that really speak to this sport as a family affair? I think so, especially in my family and the Ohio Millers, it really speaks to the family affair of the business. Once you kind of get the bug you can’t seem to get rid of it. I love doing this. To be able to not only make a career of this for myself but then to be able to share it with my family and everyone around us, it is just great. Time for the stretch drive... Best Horse you ever saw:  I might be biased here but Lucky Jim. He just loved to race. He knew when it when it was time to go and he loved to race. Lasix – Yes or No: I believe it helps horses. Trotters or Pacers:  I prefer trotters. I love sitting behind any horse I can but there is nothing better than a nice trotter, just the way they move and the power is just a feat of its own in the sport.