No place like home for Marcus Miller (Miller family photo)

By Mike Paradise for the IHHA

  Being a professional harness racing driver has gone full circle for Marcus Miller, and no one is happier about it than the 35-year-old Illinois native himself. “I’m having a good time being back near my roots,” said Marcus.

  “Circumstances brought me back here last year and I really enjoyed it. Nevertheless, the traveling from the east coast to the Midwest week after week took a toll on me. Now that we moved (in December) to Indiana, it has meant a lot more time with the wife, the kids and some old friends. We’re only a half-hour drive from Hoosier in one direction and the Indiana State Fairgrounds in the other. And now I’m picking up more and more drives and doing well.”

  Marcus is currently fourth with 58 dash winners at Indiana’s Hoosier and tied for fifth with his brother-in-law Atlee Bender at Oak Grove in Kentucky.

 Even with his strong family background, Marcus wasn’t certain he wanted to be a harness racing driver “until 13 or 14 years-old,” and when he decided that was his calling, his dad trainer Erv Miller made sure it wouldn’t be easy journey for his son.

 “I started out like any other young guy wanting to drive horses. I worked for a year as a groom,” continued Marcus. “Dad had me mucking stalls and doing all the dirty work that comes with the job. When I wanted a chance to drive, he pointed me to the Illinois county racing circuit to learn.”

 Nevertheless, the “tough love” from his dad paid off. The soft-spoken youngster came to the Chicago circuit with some skills and knowledge, and was hungry to learn more, and he did.

 By the time the likeable young man left the Midwest for Pennsylvania in 2013 he was a “Rising Star” on the Illinois circuit. He won driving titles at Balmoral and Maywood, racked up 1,975 winning drives including a one-time season best of 501 in 2011, and banked over 10 million dollars in money won.

 But it was time for a move and as it turned out with the demise of Illinois’ harness racing on the horizon, a wise decision for Marcus who left here single and engaged and returned married with two young boys, ages 3 and 7.

  “I grew up in the Midwest and I wanted my boys to do the same,” continued the prairie state native who spent the first 20 years or so of his life in Sherman, right down the road from the Illinois State Fair Grounds in Springfield. “My wife Sara and I always talked about coming back to the Midwest where she was also raised and this was the time to do it.

 “When my brother-in-law Atlee got hurt in a spill last year. I filled in the best I could for him with dad’s (trainer Erv Miller) horses in Indiana and Illinois. And my sister Hanna (a two-time Amateur Driver of the Year) had a baby girl, so it made sense to be return now and give the family kids a chance to grow up together.”

  As for his 14 years on the east coast, minus the traveling, Marcus thoroughly relished it. “I’ve driven against some of the best drivers in the country, raced in New York and Pennsylvania Sire stakes, and competed on racetracks across the east coast. I’ve learned a lot and met many great people. The money was good, and it put me in the position to buy a house in Indiana that Sara and I really fell in love with.”

 With over 4,800 career winning drives and horses Marcus has driven earning in excess of 60 million dollars, there was only one drawback from continuing to stay out east.

 “In the 14 years I was there, it just really never felt like home. Now that’s changed. Family, friends and a place I feel like its home. It doesn’t get any better than this”

  Downstate Classics Wednesday: More than $95,000 in purse money will be on the line Wednesday evening when the Decatur County Fair hosts the Downstate Classic for ICF 3-year-old trotters and pacers. The nine-race program gets under way at 4:30 pm, Central Daylight Time.

 Two-year-old champion Louise’s Legacy heads up the first $12,263 division for colt and gelding trotters while his female counterpart Lou’s My Number goes postward in the second $13,263 filly split. Casey Leonard will drive both award-winning trotters.