Last year, trainer Julie Miller got a taste of Hambletonian success.

This year she’s hoping for a bigger slice of the pie as she points Mystery Photo toward the $1.5 million Hambletonian on August 7 at Meadowlands

Racetrack.

Mystery Photo drew post position one in the fifth race, the second of three $70,000 Hambletonian elimination races on Saturday night. He joins 23 other three-year-old colt and gelding trotters who will vie for the 10 starting spots in the $1.5 million Hambletonian. The top three finishers in each of the eliminations, plus the fourth place finisher with the highest career earnings, make the final on August 7.

“I thought Mystery Photo was a nice horse and he’s proven to be one,” said Miller. “He has been excellent in the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes and in his last two starts here at the Meadowlands, I was very impressed with him. I think he has shown that he can go with the big boys. I don’t know if he’s a Holiday Road or Lucky Chucky but we’re sure going to give it a run for our money.”

The son of S Js Photo-Enchanted Victory was a $25,000 yearling purchase at the Lexington Selected Sale by Dave Prushnok, John Prushnok and William Gregg, all of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and Julie’s brother-in-law, trainer Erv Miller of Sherman, Illinois. Miller has enjoyed her biggest success with another S Js Photo son, world champion and Dan Patch Award winner Lucky Jim. She is a strong believer in the desirable characteristics of S Js Photo’s offspring.

“The breeder and owner, Dave Prushnok, had S Js Photo and it happened that he had a lot of them [S Js Photo babies],” said Miller. “With him being my owner, I’ve had the blessing to train a few of them. They have a lot of heart, a great gait and they are very gutsy. I have just been lucky that they’ve fallen into my training regimen.”

Mystery Photo is no exception. Co-owner Erv Miller trained Mystery Photo in Florida this winter and had high expectations for the horse. He made the decision to send the colt up to New Jersey where he handed the reins over to Julie to continue his training. Mystery Photo only had one start as a two-year-old but he came back strong at three.

“He only raced once at two because he was he was immature," said Miller. “So we decided to wait until he matured a little more as a three-year-old.”

In his 2010 campaign, the colt has three wins, one second and three third place finishes out of nine starts. One of those wins was an $85,844 division of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes on June 14 at Pocono Downs. On July 17, Mystery Photo finished third in a division of the Stanley Dancer Memorial, just two lengths behind two of the early Hambletonian favourites, Lucky Chucky and Holiday Road.

Miller’s Hambletonian debut in 2009 was made memorable by The Chancellor, who finished fourth in the race won by Horse of the Year Muscle Hill. Mystery Photo could give her another shot at the $1.5 million jackpot if he advances out of Saturday night’s elimination.

“The goal is always to get a check,” said Miller. “We almost got third [in 2009] and you always hope for a little more, but I was tickled to death. To be honest, it is so overwhelming [to have a horse entered in Hambletonian] and it felt like it went by so fast. There wasn’t much time to think about it. It wasn’t until later in the year that I sat down and it registered that my name was listed as a trainer in the Hambletonian.”

The 38-year-old trainer’s career has taken flight in recent years with the help of marquee names like Lucky Jim. She ranks fourth in the male-dominated trainer standings at Meadowlands Racetrack after coming off her most successful year in 2009. An Iowa native, Miller started her career racing on the smaller scale of county fairs in her home state and Illinois. She is a third generation trainer, following in her father and grandfather’s footsteps.

Miller thrives off her partnership with husband Andy Miller, who will drive Mystery Photo in his Hambletonian elimination. She believes their husband-wife combination is good for both their horses and for each other, and makes her job much easier. She credits much of her successes to him, as well as her staff.

“For sure it makes my job easier to work so closely with Andy because I think two heads are better than one,” said Miller. “I also have great employees, a great assistant trainer and as the saying goes, there is no I in team. I have all the confidence in Andy as he has in our staff and me. So I think with that kind of combination we might have a slight edge over other competitors. I think we feed off each other to make the horse better.”

A Hambletonian victory would be the ultimate accomplishment for Miller, who aims to become the first woman to harness a Hambletonian winner at the Meadowlands.

“I always say as long as we have our family and our health and we can make a good living off of what we love, then how could I ask for more,” said Miller. “But I never expected to have happen what has happened in the horse business and I’m just thankful.”

(Meadowlands Racetrack)