Miller a fresh face at the helm

Paul Miller was in Yorkshire on Saturday celebrating victory at Hornby Castle with Glenmount, who he co-owns.

This article first appeared in the Racing Post on Friday 12th April.

The previous day, he was at the Point-to-Point Authority’s HQ in Wiltshire on his way to becoming the sport’s chief executive. That will involve more than one debrief with outgoing CEO Peter Wright, whose tenure of just over five and a half years ends in June.

Miller should be hoping to avoid pandemics, shut downs, equine flu and relentless waterlogging/abandoned fixtures which have been among a raft of issues that tested Wright, a man who many will thank for maintaining the sport through some particularly dark days.

Born in Glasgow, Miller’s racing interests came from his grandfather, a bookie who would take his grandchildren racing. He says: “My love of Jump racing came from standing by a fence at Ayr, and feeling the thrill as a group of horses came over – I still get that thrill standing by a fence at a point-to-point.”

After starting a small haulage business in Scotland, recession hit in the early 1990s so he headed to London and joined a recruitment company that later floated on the stock exchange. He then set up a consultancy, looking at businesses from board level down, considering product management, staffing, marketing and relationships with customers. In a fast-moving world, yesterday’s successful product can be out of date tomorrow.

He will maintain that consultancy after becoming CEO, saying he plans to recruit to partially replace himself while retaining an interest. He says: “I see that as a benefit, because it will keep me in touch with the world outside point-to-pointing.”

Married to Kate and living in Warwickshire, he was introduced to the sport some eight years ago, quickly becoming involved in partnerships and syndicates. That relatively brief association will create two reactions in people – he lacks experience, or that he is unhindered by trenchant views and traditional whims and brings fresh ideas to the role.

He credits former top woman rider and now trainer Claire Hart with firing his interest in pointing. Two years ago, Miller’s wife and Hart created 360 Racing, a syndicate which has two pointers, a gelding – out of prolific winning pointer Lady Myfanwy – with Martin Keighley and a foal.

One of the pointers is Glenmount, who is shared with trainer Julie Wadland, and is a very desirable six-year-old – a proper chasing type – who completed a hat-trick of wins last weekend under James King. Wadland, who trains near Miller’s home in Warwickshire, said: “We had two runners at the meeting in consecutive races, so I told Paul he might have to groom his own horse while we tend to the second. He knows he has to learn all the angles.”

Glenmount en route to victory at Hornby Castle (Tom Milburn)

Fields of necessary knowledge are about to roll in Miller’s direction but, in this sport, being good with a bucket and a sweat scraper is always useful.