Julie Miller Gets 2,000th Win Friday at Freehold

Julie Miller celebrated her birthday in grand style on Friday afternoon (November 20) at Freehold Raceway, as she won her 2,000th race as a trainer.

 

It didn’t come easy, as Keystone Orion won the third race in a nail-biter. Her son, Tyler, put the horse on the lead early, and set comfortable early fractions in the TrackMaster-conditioned trotting affair. Around the third turn, favored Bad Day Black Rock moved first-over, and poked a head in front as they neared three-quarters.

 

As they turned for home, Bad Day Black Rock began to increase his lead on the outside. However, Tyler and Keystone Orion fought back, gamely dueling with their rival in the stretch. It was close, but the photo finish camera revealed that Keystone Orion won by a nose.

 

Julie Miller won her first race as a trainer in 1993, at Quad City Downs. Her career began to take off in the late 2000s, when she and her husband Andy relocated to the east coast from Illinois. Her stable cracked the $1 million mark in earnings for the first time in 2007, and won more than 100 races for the first time in 2009. 

 

On the year, Miller now has 7X wins from 40X starts, with earnings of more than $3.2 million.

 

For Keystone Orion, it was his sixth win of the year, from eighteen starts. He’s now earned more than $25,000 on the campaign. Andy Miller is the winning owner.

 

The Millers added on to their big day in race 6, as Age is a Number won by length. That was the mare’s first start for the barn.

 

Live racing at Freehold continues on Saturday (November 21), with a first post time of 12:30 PM.