Twenty-three-year-old sulky phenom Hannah Miller continued her dream season of driving on Wednesday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, winning the $12,000 Eastern Final II of the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Driving Series and earning herself a spot in the $25,000 Delvin Miller Gold Cup Championship of the Billings Series, to be held Sunday, November 22 at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Miller was driving the 6-5 favourite, Jacks To Open, and as the gate sprang, ponytail flying, Miller hustled the chalk into the two-wide tier that had formed early, with the leader of the wide tier, Wygant Prince (Paul Minore), wresting the lead away from the early front-stepper Celebrity Stimulus (David Glasser) after a rough opening quarter of :27.3.
Wygant Prince, however, soon faced a challenge from the horse behind him, Keystone Thomas (Bob Hechkoff), and that one cleared to the top into the lower turn, with Miller and Jacks To Open up to first-over position by the :57.2 half.
Despite never yet having seen the inside, Jacks To Open was still strong, and Miller guided him to the front just past the 1:27 three-quarters. The team’s work was not done, however, as Current Crisis, handled by three-time Amateur Driver of the Year Bob Krivelin, soon was on their shoulder to challenge as the only remaining threat.
But Miller, who had already guided Jacks To Open successfully to Victory Lane six times this year, knew her trotter had more to give, and despite a big effort from 10-1 Current Crisis, Miller needed to keep Jacks To Open to only mild stretch encouragement to secure a two and a half-length victory. Earlier leader Keystone Thomas and driver Heckoff were third, another three and a quarter lengths back.
If anyone were ever “bred” to be a good driver, it would be Hannah Miller – her father is 2005 Trainer of the Year Erv Miller; her brother is Marcus Miller, a top Pocono driving regular and the track’s “longshot specialist,” having won with five horses paying $50 or more this year; and she has selected Nick Surick as the co-owner, trainer, and partner for Jacks To Open and herself.
The November 22 Billings action at Philly will include the $25,000 Gold Cup, for the top winners on the season-long amateur driver trail, and the $15,000 Silver Cup for those next in the standings. And if you’re already looking to handicap the Gold Final in advance, be advised that the Pocono victory was Hannah Miller’s 32nd driving win in 2015, in but 107 starts.
(PHHA/Pocono)