Breeders Crown champ on target for Delaware

Trainer Doug Miller told harnessracing.com Thursday morning that Breeders Crown champion Charley Barley, fresh off recent throat surgery and a 1:52.2 victory at Harrah’s Chester on Wednesday, is heading to Delaware, Ohio, for the 62^nd renewal of the pacing classic on Sept. 20.

“We are heading to Delaware,” said Miller the day after Charley Barley scored a 5 ½-length, career-best win in a conditioned pace at Harrah’s Chester. “We’re going to give it a whirl. I wish we had a few more starts under his belt, but it is what it is. The horse was really good yesterday and finished strong, so we’re going to take a crack at it.”

Charley Barley capped off his freshman campaign with a win in the $600,000 Breeders Crown final at Woodbine. But his sophomore season was delayed when he got a late start training when owners John Ezzo and Lisa Adkins, hoping to keep the colt close to their hometown of Canastota, N.Y., sent him to the Morrisville College’s Standardbred program.

Trainer Doug Miller, whose sister-in-law, Kimberlie, trained Charley Barley to his Crown championship for owners John Ezzo and Lisa Adkins, began conditioning the son of Western Hanover last May. A few weeks ago he had noted that when he first saw Charley Barley the colt had just one training mile in him.

After a pair of qualifying wins, Charley Barley made his pari-mutuel debut Aug. 29 at Harrah’s Chester, finishing third. The colt then underwent throat surgery, but came back a week later to again finish third.

“We had some problems with his throat and operated on it a couple weeks ago,” said Miller on Thursday. “The second time he was third, he really raced good because he was basically parked the whole mile with no cover. I think we are back on the right track with him, so we’ll see what happens.”

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