Paul Millar

Paul Millar

Article by Alan Trout

Paul Millar rode six winners over jumps in the second half of the 1980s. He was a conditional jockey with Telford-based trainer Bill Preece and opened his career with an unplaced effort on Young Lofty in the Border Conditional Jockeys’ Selling Handicap Hurdle at Ludlow on February 28, 1985.

His first ride the following season was at Bangor-on-Dee on September 21 and, after taking the lead three flights from home, his mount Cut-a-Caper went on to win the Haighton Conditional Jockeys’ Selling Handicap Hurdle by seven lengths.

Paul’s second ride of the campaign was at Ludlow on October 3, when Thatchit, trained like Cut-a-Caper by Bill Preece, doubled his jockey’s total of wins, scoring by two lengths. Solitario gave him his third success when beating Peter Scudamore on Battle Master by five lengths at Chepstow on November 30. Mithras gave Paul his fourth and final win of the season at Hereford on December 19.

More than a year passed before win number five came along, but at Sedgefield on January 28, 1987, Solitario took the lead on the run-in and ensured that Paul did not endure a blank campaign. 

There was an even longer wait for his sixth and final winner, which came at Stratford on September 3, 1988, when Grundy’s Own led all the way and landed the Black Prince Conditional Jockeys’ Selling Handicap Hurdle. Paul had a few more rides that season but no further successes. 

Paul Millar’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Cut-a-Caper, Bangor-on-Dee, September 21, 1985

2. Thatchit, Ludlow, October 3, 1985

3. Solitario, Chepstow, November 30, 1985

4. Mithras, Hereford., December 19, 1985

5. Solitario, Sedgefield, January 28, 1987

6. Grundy’s Own, Stratford-on-Avon, September 3, 1988