Meadowlands: Marcus Miller seeks weekend Preferred sweep

Driver Marcus Miller has some interesting assignments this weekend at The Meadowlands. Refreshed from a holiday vacation, Miller hopes to energize a pair at the top level on the trotting and pacing side this Friday and Saturday night.

On the trotting side, Trolley is on the comeback trail for the second time in a career that has been sidetracked on two occasions but now appears on the right track.

“He broke a coffin bone twice,” said Miller of the now 6-year-old son of Donato Hanover who landed post six in Friday’s second race, a $21,000 Preferred Handicap trot.

“I thought he was in the top tier of sophomores,” said Miller of Trolley, who was a part of the class of 2016 that included Southwind Frank. Trolley started but five times during the abbreviated season but made his presence known with a solid second to Southwind Frank in the Earl Beal Memorial.

“I thought he was the best in the Zweig,” said Miller of Trolley, who was a 4-1 proposition in the $300,000 event but made a break in stride that ended his chances and his season.

“I like to say he’s the best trotter that I’ve ever driven that no one has ever heard of,” said Miller, half-joking and half-serious.

Trolley completed his second comeback season making five starts last year winning on three occasions while moving up the class ladder at The Meadowlands.

“He scoped badly after his last race,” said Miller of the third-place finish on December 21 that closed out the season. “I trained him this morning (Wednesday) and he felt really good.”

Trolley is a different horse today than he was at age 3, bigger and more mature, and Miller is hoping that the world will get to see what he’s been talking about. “I think he can become an Open horse that we can travel with over the summer,” said Miller. Trolley faces a solid field of six rivals including the likely favorite Muscle Diamond (post 7) to his outside and Dover Downs-invader Fraser Ridge (post 5) to his inside.

Miller will return on Saturday night on the outside again in the Preferred Handicap with Geez Joe, starting from post seven in the $21,000 event carded as race seven.

“He was a horse that just had bad luck pretty much all year until he got to the Meadowlands late in the year,” said Miller. “He was either jumping over a shadow or getting run into.”

The fortunes for the now 5-year-old gelded son of Roll With Joe changed dramatically when he arrived in East Rutherford in the fall. “I knew he was a pretty nice horse but I didn’t expect him to win in (1):48 and change three times,” said Miller.

Nevertheless, Miller will keep things in perspective and hope that Geez Joe can develop a bit more and perhaps move on to more elite company. Though he’s a big horse, Miller claims that Geez Joe can actually get around a half-mile track pretty well. “He paced in 1:51 3/5 at Saratoga last year,” said Miller. That said, the jury is still out on whether Geez Joe will be tried in the Levy series at Yonkers in March.

The $532K winner Ideal Jimmy is another from the Erv Miller collection returning from a long absence from none other than a coffin injury, but the one-time open pacer seems to be heading in the right direction. “Andy (Miller) drove him last week so I can’t tell you how he was but when I drove him (December 22) I think he could have won the race if I had gotten out,” Miller said. Ideal Jimmy was an impressive third after missing a full year of racing action.

“He’s just such a fun horse to be around,” said Miller affectionately about a horse he has driven since his 2015 freshman campaign when he captured the $350,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship in 1:51 flat despite starting from post seven and navigating through a field that included four from trainer Ron Burke.

Ideal Jimmy landed post four in the eighth race on Saturday, a conditioned event for non-winners of $11,500 in last five starts.

The Meadowlands offers 14 races on both its Friday and Saturday evening cards with a first post at 7:15 p.m.