by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Marcus Miller is stunned by how much he’s learned over the past year, but his “studies” extend far beyond Chicago’s DePaul University, where he is a junior majoring in marketing. Five nights a week, his classroom is the racetrack.

Miller, the 20-year-old son of trainer Erv Miller, is in his first full season as a harness racing driver. He has won 214 races this year and his horses have earned $1.6 million in purses. Miller’s 116 wins rank sixth at Balmoral Park and his 61 triumphs at Maywood Park rank seventh.

“I think about what I know now compared to a year ago and it’s unreal,” said Miller, who has 376 lifetime victories. “I know I’ve got so much more to learn, but I can’t believe I was even competitive before as much as I’ve learned now and how much different I think about races. It’s a lot easier to learn when you’re in nine or 10 races a night instead of two or three and your next drive might not be for a couple days. The learning curve is a lot faster whenever you’re in more races and get in the groove and can be on a roll.”

Marcus Miller

Winning has never been a problem for Miller, who transferred from Eastern Illinois University to DePaul so he could drive regularly on the Chicago circuit. He won the first time he ever competed in a race, back in 2004, and had a win percentage of nearly 32 percent prior to this season.

“I really enjoy driving horses,” Miller said. “I’m considering this my rookie year because last year I drove almost only for my dad. Now there are some nights that I’m in eight or nine races and he’s not in any of them. I’ve gotten to drive some nice horses and won some stakes races for people who weren’t my dad. I’m really excited about that.”

Erv Miller was the 2005 Trainer of the Year, as selected by the U.S. Harness Writers Association, and has put together a stable that routinely wins in excess of $5 million in purses each year.

“I love driving his horses, obviously, but I didn’t want to just rely on him,” Marcus Miller said.

Miller’s top win this year, so far, came with his father’s Power Of A Moment in the $240,000 Orange & Blue Stakes at Balmoral Park in September. He won the $50,000 Plesac and $47,750 Cardinal stakes with trotter Showmeyourstuff for trainer Jerald Viviani.

Balmoral Park photo

Marcus Miller enjoyed a lot of success in 2009 with Power Of A Moment, who won 12 of 15 starts, with earnings of $291,600.

On Friday night, Miller expects to be in the sulky behind What It Means in the $225,000 Windy City Pace at Maywood. What It Means has won five of 25 races this year and earned $111,199.

“I love driving in the big races,” Miller said. “(What It Means) is a nice horse. If it works out for him and he’s in the right mindset, he could be right there, I think. He’s pretty handy. He’s quick, which helps on a half-mile track.”

Miller gets advice and tips from fellow drivers from time to time. He also speaks regularly with his father about his races.

“If someone sees me doing something wrong, they’re not afraid to say something, which is nice,” Miller said. “My dad watches almost all my races and I call him when I’m done. We’ll talk about it. You can learn something from everyone.

“The most important thing I’ve learned so far is that you can’t get too down and you can’t get too high, either. There are times when I’ve felt I can’t do anything wrong and at other times it doesn’t seem like you’re doing anything differently and nothing goes right. You’ve just got to be able to roll with it.”

Windy City: The field for Friday’s Windy City Pace includes six horses that competed in the American-National Stakes on November 14, including the second- through fifth-place finishers Annieswesterncard, Sheer Desire, If I Can Dream, and Standupnkissme. Also in the Windy City are Fox Valley Seth, In Over My Head, and My Boy Luke.

If I Can Dream was the Am-Nat favorite, but went off stride behind the gate. The loss snapped a streak of three consecutive stakes victories — in the Messenger, Breeders Crown and Tattersalls.