by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — Temple Of Doom is back on the racetrack and driver Andy Miller hopes the trotter soon will be back in the winner’s circle.

Sidelined nearly all of last year because of an injury, Temple Of Doom won a qualifier by a half-length over Arch Madness in 1:55.4 on March 23 at the Meadowlands. It was the 6-year-old trotter’s first action since winning his only two starts of 2012, both at the Big M last March.

Temple Of Doom has been in the stable of trainer Julie Miller, Andy’s wife, since the start of last year. He is scheduled to make his seasonal racing debut Friday night in a $12,000 conditioned race at the Meadowlands. He drew post No. 5 in a full field of 10 horses.

USTA/Ken Weingartner photo

Temple Of Doom has earned $696,317 in his career.

“He raced pretty good last year, but he came out of his second start a little sore behind,” Miller said. “It turned out he had a broken coffin bone. They took him to the Rosenheim farm and he had stall rest and turnout time. He’s come back good. He seems to be very sound.

“It’s hard to say how far he’s going to go, but he’s done everything we’ve asked for coming back.”

Temple Of Doom wore trotting hobbles the past two years, but qualified without them last week.

“He was good,” Miller said. “We hope to race him without the hobbles this year, but he’ll tell us.”

For his career, Temple Of Doom has won six of 36 races and earned $696,317 for owner Robert Rosenheim. As a 3-year-old in the stable of trainer Jonas Czernyson, Temple Of Doom set the world record for 3-year-old colt trotters on a five-eighths-mile track by winning a division of the Zweig Memorial in 1:52.4 at Tioga Downs.

Temple Of Doom was winless as a 2-year-old but finished on the board nine times and showed his penchant for making money by finishing second in the William Wellwood Memorial and third in the Valley Victory stakes.

Lisa photo

Temple Of Doom broke his maiden in a New Jersey Sire Stakes race at the Meadowlands on May 28, 2010.

The next year, Temple Of Doom won two of 14 races — the Zweig and a division of the New Jersey Sire Stakes — but earned checks in the Hambletonian, Canadian Trotting Classic, Colonial and Historic-Dickerson Cup plus a division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial.

Although he had an unsuccessful turn in the breeding shed as a 4-year-old, Temple Of Doom won twice that season in the conditioned ranks before heading to the Miller stable in 2012.

Temple Of Doom is a son of stallion Yankee Glide out of the stakes-winning-mare Armbro Temple. His second dam, Delmegan, was a two-time Dan Patch Award winner (at ages 2 and 4) and his third dam, Delmonica Hanover, was Horse of the Year in 1974.

“I raced against him and I remembered he was always a very fast horse,” Miller said. “He wasn’t a big winner, but he was always in the hunt. He was always there getting money.

“I don’t think he’s staked to much this year, but hopefully he can work his way through the conditions and up to the open. Maybe he could be a free-for-all trotter. He’s a great horse to be around.”