Hightstown, NJ – For a while last year, trainer Ryan Miller thought female pacer Blood Queen might never get to the races. Now that the well-bred 3-year-old filly has three wins in six lifetime races under her belt, Miller is anxious to see what she could become.
Blood Queen was a $70,000 yearling purchase at the 2024 Lexington Selected Sale. She is a daughter of Downbytheseaside-Blood Diamond and her siblings include Grand Circuit winners Blood Brother, Blood Line and Blood Money. Her second dam is Hall of Fame broodmare Arterra (whose foals include millionaires If I Can Dream and Western Terror) and her third dam is Hall of Fame racehorse and broodmare Delinquent Account (dam of millionaire Artiscape). A deeper dive into the family reveals another six millionaires, including Dan Patch Award winning fillies Miki And Minnie, Treacherous Dragon and My Little Dragon.
“My wife (Stacey) bought her and it kind of caught me off guard,” Miller said, with a laugh. “She wasn’t one of the horses on our radar, but my wife thought she might have brought a little more, so I can credit my wife for that one. Not that ($70,000) is cheap, by no means, but for being a Downbytheseaside out of that family, we thought that if anything she’s a broodmare value.”
Initially, it appeared that might be the extent of Blood Queen’s potential value. She was difficult to get started last season as a 2-year-old, and she made breaks in her first two qualifying attempts in July at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.
“I never thought she would race,” said Miller, who trains the filly for his own Miller Racing Stable, Redracer LLC, and Melinda Hayes. “She was one of the worst horses I’ve ever trained early on. Tough to break, tough to get gaited; she did everything wrong. She qualified terrible, but then we ironed a few things out, and she started to come around. She was a very late bloomer.”
After a third-place finish in her third qualifying try at Hoosier Park, Blood Queen headed to Ohio’s Eldorado Scioto Downs for her debut, which she won by 4 lengths in 1:53.1. Sickness derailed her in her next two starts, both at Lexington’s Red Mile, but she rebounded to capture a Buckeye Stallion Series division in 1:55.2 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds. She finished her campaign with a fourth-place finish in a Kentucky Sire Stakes leg at Cumberland Run in mid-October.
“She finished up real strong,” Miller said. “I do think there is a lot of talent if we can get everything ironed out.”
Blood Queen has raced once this season at 3, winning by a neck over 4-year-old Caviart Maria in 1:53.3 at Miami Valley Raceway. Her next start will also be at MVR, Thursday (April 16) in a $25,000 elimination of the James K. Hackett Memorial for sophomore pacing fillies. She will leave from post 1 in the first of two elims, with Kayne Kauffman in the sulky. She is the 3-1 third choice on the morning line.
The top four finishers from each elim and a fifth-place finisher drawn by lot will advance to the $75,000 final on April 23.
“I think she’s a sire stakes filly from the vibes she’s giving me, but the Hackett will be our telltale sign the next week or two, if we make the final. We’ll know a lot more about her this week. I think she’s got wicked speed, I think she’s got a giant set of lungs, and I think she’s got talent. Now you need class to go with the rest of it. So, we’re working on the class. It’s coming. When I first qualified her, I didn’t know what was going to happen, if she was going to behave. But she’s had enough starts now that I know she’s going to behave, and she likes her work.
“Every time she goes on the track it’s a little better than the day before. I love her now, but she was definitely a difficult child. Her floor is little lower than I’d prefer it to be on a nice horse, but her ceiling is very high. She could be anything.”
The second Hackett Memorial elimination for the pacing fillies includes last year’s Ohio Sire Stakes champion, Seaside Shuffle, from the stable of trainer Ron Burke.
In addition to the two Hackett elims for the pacing fillies, there will be two Hackett elims for the 3-year-old male pacers and one each for the 3-year-old male and female trotters. The top eight finishers from each of the trot elims will advance to next week’s finals.
Racing begins at 4 p.m. (EDT) at Miami Valley Raceway. For Thursday’s complete entries, click here.