When it comes to good fortune, Our Lucky Chip delivers.

Our Lucky Chip, a three-year-old colt pacer, is giving owner/trainer Jason Miller the kind of horse he has been waiting for since being introduced to the business around age 15. He has won 13 of 16 starts this year, including the Indiana Sire Stakes Gold Final at Indiana Downs on Sept. 8. Lifetime, Our Lucky Chip has won 15 of 19 for $249,587.

Miller, who works fulltime for UPS, rarely makes more than 20 starts each year as a trainer. Our Lucky Chip’s 13 victories are a career high for Miller, who has been involved in harness racing for 25 years with his family and had some successful horses, such as Susies Lil Rip and Princess Pastel.

When success like this arrives, it’s extra special.

“Oh, more than you know,” Miller said. “I’ve had a couple decent horses and you learn from those horses what you do and don’t do and how you manage them and stuff.

“I don’t have a lot of experience with a lot of horses, but what I know from the horses I have had over the years, is that if you manage them and take care of them properly they’ll reward you. You have to let them be a horse and at the same time you have to take care of them.”

In letting Our Lucky Chip be a horse this year, Miller staked him only to the sire stakes and the upcoming American-National Stakes.

“I knew we had a nice horse, but I didn’t want to stake him in with a lot of open horses this year,” Miller said. “I’m looking forward to next year and will probably give him an opportunity with the open horses. We’ll go where we can and give him the best shot we can.”

Miller’s far-reaching journey to purchasing/training Our Lucky Chip began in his mid-teens in Amboy, Ind., where his father Eli and brother Alvin were in the business.

“I was raised with draft horses at a young age,” the 39-year-old said. “My dad and brother got into the harness business when I was around 15 and I got my license at 17.

“Like any young kid, I wanted to drive, so I did it in fairs. I liked breaking colts and stuff so I gave up the driving thing. It’s hard for a person to do that unless you had a lot of rides. I have a fulltime job with UPS, and it’s more fun to me, to train and watch your horse that you train.”

The Millers have trained in Converse, Ind., for the past 20 years and Jason has also become an owner. He was turned on to Our Lucky Chip when one of Alvin’s former owners passed away and the family was looking to sell some horses.

“We came across the chance to buy (Our Lucky Chip),” Miller said. “So I cut my partner (Brad Roller) in; he’s a guy I knew from work and he got into the business with me.”

Asked what he liked about the horse, Miller said “It was all about breeding. The guy had been raising horses for years. It was more luck than anything, just being in the right place at the right time.”

When it was mentioned to Jason that luck sometimes helps, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“In this business. .. what are you kidding me!” he exclaimed.

Miller limited Our Lucky Chip (Arts Chip-Lady Moira) to three starts last year – the colt didn’t get to the races until November – and he won twice at Balmoral Park in Chicago.

“He was sick early,” the trainer said. “He didn’t get going until late, but we wanted to start him in a couple starts and he impressed us, of course.

“His first (win) he came home in :26.3 in 30-degree weather with 20 mile an hour gusts of wind. He caught my attention that night. It was just a matter of keeping a few things sound, getting him to learn the business. He was a little squirrely.”

This year Our Lucky Chip has raced strictly in Indiana and has surpassed all hopes.

“We knew he had ability but I didn’t think he’d have this kind of year,” Miller said. “He’s extremely sound and has a great attitude and he’s by far exceeded our expectations. He’s a very nice horse and has a lot of personality and he’s great to be around.

“We try not to move him too quick. He’s a little ornery at first, a little goofy at the gate. I think he can leave if you ask him to but we try to race from behind and pick up some cover. Most horses like to go after somebody if they can.”

Miller has spent much of his career coming from behind and he’s starting to make his move now. Roller, on the other hand, is thinking this racing stuff is easy.

“It’s funny, this is the first horse he has ever owned,” Miller said with a laugh. “People are telling me ‘Oh my God you ruined him, he’s going to think every horse is like this.’”

Not every horse. But when it comes to good fortune, Our Lucky Chip spreads it around.

This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.