Michelle Miller on how she got involved in RUS!
! Ever since I was a little girl I thought Standardbreds should be ridden. But then again if a horse was not available I would settle for sitting on a cow’s back or would climb atop the back of the ceramic cat in our living room. I guess I thought all things should have a passenger on board. !
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The very first horse I remember riding was a black gelded Standardbred named Taffys Count Ed. I took a particular liking to him as a child. Before I could ride alone my father would put me on his back and lead him around the barnyard. I would spend hours in his stall just picking up his feet, petting him and letting him lift me by his halter. He was a gentle giant and at one time I considered him to be my best friend. !
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Having grown up with several family members who owned and trained Standardbreds, one might think I would find it more natural to want to ride in a sulky. However, this was not the case. !
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Don’t get me wrong, I would oftentimes wait at the end of the driveway in order to jump at the chance to be able hitch a ride with my father as he jogged the horses on the road. And as I got older, I would help jog and train - but never did I tell myself that is what I wanted to do when I grew up. In fact, I never once considered becoming a harness racehorse driver. !
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Instead, I would watch Thoroughbred racing on TV and tell my parents I wanted to be a jockey. However, they thought I would become way too tall to do such a thing - as I wore a size 9 shoe in the fifth grade and everyone believed I would eventually fill those shoes. !
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Well the joke was on them, because I stayed pretty small. I’m probably a tad bit heavier than the ideal weight limit for a Thoroughbred jockey though and I certainly had no connections with people involved in that type of racing. !
My father, Terry Miller, leading Taffys Count Ed around the barnyard with me riding bareback.
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As I became older, I gave up on my hopes of one day becoming a jockey. I did not stop riding however. My grandfather had two barns full of race horses and many of those horses had to deal with a little girl crawling on their backs - whether it just be for a short bareback ride after they raced, or as I got older, longer trail rides. !
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It was not until a couple years ago that I ever thought in my wildest dreams that I might possibly be able to race a Standardbred under saddle. I saw my first racing under saddle race at Vernon Downs in 2012 and knew right away it was something I had to learn more about. I convinced my brother to allow me to use one of his horses and with the help of others involved in the sport I was able to obtain my license to ride. !
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My brother thought Cartier Field would be a good horse to try because he is just a great horse to be around and does not get worked up at the track. We did not know if he would ride, but we figured he would because he’s the type of horse who doesn’t do anything wrong.!
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We were right. I got on and he acted as though he had been doing it his entire life. He was the perfect starter horse. He really seemed to take a liking to it and qualified under saddle like a champion with very little practice under his belt. !
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Our next concern was getting him around a half mile track as he mainly raced on a mile track because he gets around bigger tracks better. We thought not having the bike behind him might help. We were wrong. Cartier Field broke stride during our first race at Goshen Historic Track in July 2013. We gave it one more try at Afton Fair. He broke again. !
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Trainer Chris McCracken of Earlville, NY came up to us in Afton and suggested that one of his mares might be a good RUS prospect. We really did not take him too seriously until we did not have a successful outing. What was there to lose by trying a different horse? We had Qualifying Cartier Field at Vernon Downs. heard she could be a little hot and pulled some, but knew she could get around small fair tracks - as she was there to race in the open trot that day. !
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We then asked if he was serious about trying his mare, Kash Now, under saddle. He was and had me bring my saddle over and try getting on her back right there on the spot. Again I got real lucky as she acted as if she had been ridden before. I rode her back and forth behind the track several times and she seemed to do just fine. !
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I continued trying to train Cartier Field at the Otsego County Fairgrounds in Morris, NY with intentions of racing him there that year. He just kept pacing and running. His legs were not holding up to RUS and he was too sore to try racing again. I organized the race, but was not going to risk further injury to the horse just to race. !
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Then I asked if I could take Kash for a week and see how she did on an actual track. I was generously allowed to do so, but we tried to prepare too quick. Our first outing on the track was quite eventful. We went around the track once at a fairly fast speed and when I went to steer her she spun. I went one way and she went the other. I was not prepared for what I call her “super steering.” I got back on and tried again. I ended up on the ground one more time as she tried to cut the infield. I knew that with people already setting up for the fair it would not be safe to keep trying to teach her. As much as it upset me not to race, I knew it was better to host a safe race than go out there and have something bad happen. !
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I called Kash’s owner William McCracken to let him know I was not going to race her in the RUS event so he could enter her in the open trot. We discussed working more with her under saddle as we still thought she would be good at it within time. !
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Kash and I training around a field in Earlville, NY.
I traveled several times to the McCracken farm in Earlville to ride her around a field that has a path on the outside where they jog their horses. She was perfect every time and seemed to be enjoying her time under saddle. The more I rode her the more I fell in love with her and couldn’t wait to get her behind a
starting gate. Unfortunately it was the end of the season and there were no more RUS races planned. We were able to get her behind the gate and into a qualifier at Monticello thanks to Jennifer Lowrey who offered to ride her for me while I had to work. !
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By this time I was in love with racing and wanted a RUS horse of my own. I appreciated having someone offer me the chance to ride theirs, but hated traveling to be able to ride. I didn’t want to have to coordinate with her owner and trainer so my boyfriend and I offered to buy her. It took a lot of convincing, but eventually we got them to budge. She became ours in January. !
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While Kash’s qualifying time of 2:16 was good enough to enter her in the 2014 RUS NY Fair Series, it was not good enough to be able participate in the Vernon RUS Series that required a time of 2:08. I really wanted to shoot for that time as well as get her behind the gate myself before just racing her so I took her to Vernon to qualify in late June. We were one second off our goal so we missed the first leg of the Vernon series. !
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Our first race was the first leg of the fair series on July 3 at Goshen Historic Track where we placed third. We were right back there racing on July 6 - taking third place once again. Our next stop was the place we were united: Afton Fair. This marked the second leg of the fair series and guess where we placed? Third! We seemed to be quite consistent.!
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I was then invited to participate in the RUS exhibition race at Saratoga. We could not pass this one up and I hope to be invited again. !
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Then it was back to the fair series and on to Seneca County Fair in Waterloo where we earned our first win with a time of 2:12.0. We had a little time off before going to race on what could be considered our home track. My brother used to stable his horses at the fairgrounds in Morris and I had taken Kash there several times to train. It did not give us an advantage however, as we were defeated by last year’s Otsego County Fair RUS champions Michelle Crawford and her mare Vassar Hall. Kash and I placed second. !
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We went on to take another third at the Chenango County Fair in Norwich before heading to Vernon to participate in the second leg of that series. Then it was off to the RUS NY Fair Series Final in Trumansburg feeling like death worn over. Not only was I feeling horrible, but she took a bad step on the first turn and almost went down. Although we finished last, I was happy to have finished and glad everyone was safe. I really felt like I might lose my cookies and she came back with a big gash in her foot. It just was not our day for racing. !
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Kash and I heading to the track at Vernon Downs for the RUS series final held on Aug. 29.
The Vernon finals probably marked our last race of the season. And if it does, we ended on a fairly good note taking fourth place. ! ! We bought Kash knowing she was not going to be the fastest RUS horse, but a good horse for me to grow and learn with. I had ridden a lot of Standardbreds before, but admit I was not the best rider going into my endeavors. I was in 4-H growing up and did some horse showing (all
Qualifying Kash at Vernon Downs.
disciplines of riding). I mostly just do trail riding now that I am older. I had not ridden in an english saddle since I was about 12 or 13 years old and certainly have not gone race speeds before participating in RUS. !
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When people see my horse they do not think she is big enough for RUS. They ask how my “pony” is going to keep up with the big horses? Kash is not big in size and may not show fast times, but she is my little Seabiscuit. Yes, I am realistic enough to know she will not make the same kind of money or headlines he did. She may not even be competitive for very long if riders continue to get faster horses. But for now I have given her a new job and we are out there having fun and improving together. !
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I have ridden many Standardbreds throughout my life and fortunately none of them have ever tried to buck or rear on me. There have been some that were stubborn and didn’t want to go through water or trails without a leader, but I have never had one try to dump me. The craziest moment was when one of my grandpa’s fastest race horses bolted at full speed to the barn with me aboard. I do not really remember being that scared, I just remember grabbing the horse’s mane as hard as I could and being happy I stayed on. That was probably the closest I ever got to going race speed as a child, but who knows, maybe it was not as fast as it seemed as I was very young. All that I do know is it was a bumpy ride.