Goshen, NY – While the much-heralded success of so-called ‘trainer-drivers’ harkens back to an era when Hall of Famers like Billy Haughton and Stanley Dancer drove their own charges in stakes and overnight races, Dylan Huckabone-Miller could be considered a throwback to the sport’s heyday.
Born in Harris, NY, just 25 years ago, long after catch drivers took over the teamster duties for big stables, Huckabone-Miller has quietly compiled a record that is catching people’s attention.
The lanky youngster began driving in 2018 and has earned $1.16 million with 217 trips to the winner’s circle. With Vernon Downs as his home base, the energetic horseman picked up 67 of those victories this year, with a UDRS of .250. While ‘on track’ for a career year, and earning over $340,000, he caught the attention of another, very successful trainer-driver: Ake Svanstedt.
Huckabone-Miller recalls how he got hooked up with arguably one of the most powerful trotting stables in North America. “The [New York] Sire Stakes came to town and [Ake] had three in that day. There were not a lot of drivers available. Sarah (Svanstedt) drove one, Dan Daley drove one, and I got to drive Read The Room. He ended up finishing a very good third. The following week was the final at Batavia and he left me up.”
Sitting behind trotters is nothing new for Huckabone-Miller. He was just 8-years-old when he jogged his first horse on a farm track, and then started working in his father’s barn at Vernon at age 11. Six formative years later he was poised and ready to hear the starter say ‘Go.’
“I had a bunch of years spent training up until then, so I felt comfortable once I got behind the starting gate, and it just took off from there,” stated Huckabone-Miller.
Dylan finished the Vernon season as the fifth leading driver, not far behind such seasoned veterans as Leon Bailey and Chris Long. But his success did not stop there. Huckabone-Miller was the leading trainer on the New York County Fair circuit with 21 wins in 78 starts and earnings over $106,000.
So how does a 20-something take a trailer-load full of horses on the road and come out on top?
“I took over trainer duties this year and we had a good group to bring to the fairs. It worked out good,” Huckabone-Miller said very matter-of-a-factly.
When asked how he handled the logistics and the pressure of driving and training a stable full of horses, the modest young man noted, “Everything went pretty smoothly. Luckily I still had my dad (Claude Huckabone III) in my corner to help guide me through everything. It was a work in progress, but it worked out just fine in the end.”
Just fine indeed, their stable’s 2-year-old trotting filly Sevenboysalooking won the county fair final at Goshen with Jordan Stratton aboard. The daughter of Chapter Seven picked up an additional five county fair victories with his dad, Claude III in her sulky.
Huckabone-Miller was quick to credit Jordan Stratton as always being available to give him advice, now, and while he was just learning about the sport. He also noted that his grandfather, Claude Huckabone Jr., had a big influence on his horsemanship skills.
Overall, Huckabone-Miller finished the season with 53 training wins in 321 starts for a UTRS of .306. Coupled with 46 places and 59 shows, his charges earned $256,168, in just his first full year of competition.
So what does the future hold for the young reinsman from upstate New York?
“I really enjoy both training and driving, so we will see wherever this takes me. It’s hard to focus-in on just one. But I would like to evolve as both a trainer and a driver, going forward.”
When the Monticello-Goshen USHWA Chapter holds their 66th annual Awards Banquet, presented by the New York Sire Stakes, on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2027, Dylan Huckabone Miller will receive the chapter’s Rising Star Award.
Once again this year the chapter has been given the opportunity to include the New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) and USTA’s District 8 Awards, which will be in addition to the year-end awards for horses and horse people from the local tracks.
In addition, the Monticello-Goshen USHWA Chapter will bestow the chapter’s highest honor upon Moira Fanning, which is their Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Monticello-Goshen chapter will also honor Ralph Scunziano (Excelsior Award); Keith Hamilton (John Gilmour Good Guy Award); Janet Durso (Amy Bull Crist Distinguished Service Award); James Crawford IV (Cradle of the Trotter Breeders Award); Jessica Hallett (Phil Pines Award); Barb and Liz Stubits (Mighty M Award of Appreciation), and Brenna Gill (Caretaker of the Year). The event’s dinner sponsor is the Hambletonian Society and Breeders Crown.
Funds raised through the banquet and souvenir journal have allowed the Monticello-Goshen Chapter to give well over $150,000 to Goshen Historic Track and the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame over the last two decades. The Track and the Museum are two separate and distinct entities that share the same hallowed ground and a mutual purpose of preserving and promoting harness racing.
The practice of raising money and donating funds to Historic Track and the Hall of Fame began in the mid-1970s with Monticello Raceway publicity icon John Manzi, and has continued ever since.
Additional information can be found on our website: monticellogoshen.com.
Tickets for the gala event at 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.
Dylan Huckabone-Miller is the winner of the Monticello-Goshen USHWA Chapter Rising Star Award. Chris Tully Photo.