Racing for the big time

He tolerated the girls – to a point – and even got the dafter ones (guess who) to occasionally buy him The Sporting Life and bet on the book he ran.

That was nearly 25 years ago and now it seems strange to meet the grown-up Paul Midgley. He's turned out darker, deeper-voiced and much taller than this punter would have put her dinner money on.

His name has cropped up over the years. First as a jockey but more recently as a racehorse trainer. Although The Sporting Life is no more, the Racing Post rates him highly. Its northern correspondent, Tom O'Ryan, says: "Paul's definitely one of the top young trainers in the country. A name we'll hear a lot more of. There's no hiding place as a trainer. Paul has come from modest beginnings to make a real success of training which, in my opinion, is down to his hard graft, realistic placement of his horses and – plainly – a flair for getting the best out of them."

Praise indeed – over 50 words – from a man who tells it how it is; without flannel or fuss. Almost an essay by O'Ryan's standards.

But back to the beginning. Paul, now 37, grew up on the family farm at Howsham, between York and Malton. He has a twin brother, Richard, and an older sibling Simon. They were all likely lads. Playing pranks, fighting and football in equal measure.

"I suppose we just got put on ponies," says Paul. "My mum and dad used to go around the point-to-points and we always enjoyed that."

A member of the Middleton Pony Club, Paul enjoyed show jumping and cross country riding but wishes he'd been around for the introduction of pony racing for youngsters.

"I was never one for going around in circles. Pony racing would have been right up my street. They've had it in Ireland for years and there's no doubt in my mind that it's the reason why young Irish jockeys are streets ahead of their British counterparts."

After secondary school in Norton, he was straight off, at the age of 16, to saddle up as a professional. He spent 10 years as a jump jockey but has ended up a primarily flat horse trainer.

He started out with Paul Blockley at Beverley, eventually moving south with him, before spells riding for John Wainwright, Geoff Oldroyd and Mick Easterby among others.

"By the time I got to 25 or 26, after 10 years in the game, I was sick of wasting to make the weight."

He rode 30-odd winners from just short of a 1,000 rides but is matter-of-fact in admitting the big time never really came calling.

His rather undemonstrative face – the only time he gives anything away is when talking about his three "fantastic" children – lights up as he describes the much bigger buzz he gets from training.

"As a jockey I turned up and rode: 10 minutes, 15 minutes tops. If they won, it was brilliant. If they didn't, it wasn't my problem, it was on to the next ride.

"Training is a drug. You get a winner and then you want another one. It's like following a recipe and you've got to have all the ingredients ready at the right time. It's so satisfying to send a horse on to the racecourse and know it's in tip-top condition.

"If a horse runs badly, it drives me bananas until I can work out why it didn't do very well. It's absolutely addictive."

Once retired from race riding, Paul started breaking in potential racehorses – known in the trade as "pre-training" – and also had a handful of point-to-point runners. The family had sold the farm where they'd lived for generations and Paul's parents, Tim and Wendy, both in their 60s, had bought a much smaller holding of 28 acres a few miles down the road. "There were no facilities apart from a hen hut, fold yard and my office was a garage," says Paul, who eventually applied for a trainer's licence to try to make a living during the summer.

"Me and mum were busy in the winter starting off other people's racehorses. But come summer they all went off into training and we were left with nothing," explains Paul.

"We started in September 2004 and we all mucked in. Friends, family – especially my dad, who just keeps everything ticking over. In the first year we had 20 horses and three winners.

"To be honest there was an awful lot of rubbish horses among those 20. It was impossible to compete the following year without selling a lot of them and restocking.

"Next season we had a more manageable 12 horses and from them we got 16 winners. We were on our way."Many original owners came from the surrounding farming community. But now that Paul is poised on the brink of the big time they send their horses from as far afield as Jersey, Ireland, Scotland and France. It's good to know there are still a few farmers among their number. "My dad likes a chat with them," explains Paul, who says he'd be absolutely lost without his father, Tim, keeping everything on the home front straight. He recently bought him a horse, Mufftarres, to show his appreciation.

"He's everything from gallops man to yard maintenance, muck heap and fencing. You name it. He sees it and sorts it. Him and mum deserve to have a bit of fun following the horse. I sometimes feel bad about how hard they're working. Mum's always out by 5 o'clock to feed and get the first lot on to the horsewalker. Instead of going inside afterwards, she normally gets cracked on with the mucking out, then the next lot on the horsewalker."

There's a bit of magic surrounding a horse owned by one of Midgley's remaining farmer owners. Polish World, who recently completed a hat-trick when winning the Yorkshire Racing Summer Festival Handicap, had been sold for the princely some of 550,000 as a yearling. A Halifax farmer, Chris Green, bought him for 800 from Doncaster Bloodstock Sales. The six year-old was the last one through the ring and was sent to Midgley to turn him into a winner. There are plenty of other fairytales in the yard. What is hard to weigh up is whether Midgley sprinkles stardust on no-hopers or simply knows a good 'un when he sees it. Perhaps a bit of both? Take Dazakee who went through the sale ring at Newmarket without a bid and was bought by Midgley afterwards for 500. Since then Dazakee has won and been placed every start.

All 59 stables have the names of their occupants chalked up. There's a team of four lasses and three lads plus, of course, Mr and Mrs Midgley Senior. Paul describes himself as the "train driver", making sure it's noted that the train, with special mention to Wendy Gibson who can turn her hand to everything from race riding to horsebox driving, would come off the tracks without the workers.

It's interesting to see Paul at work. We're talking, he's having a sly cigarette and – at the same time – he's noticed one of his charges doesn't have a rug on.

"Can we get a lightweight sheet on please," he shouts out; in the same breath as reminding a girl it's time to bring a horse in from the paddock. Then the farrier gets his instructions and a young jockey is asked how morning exercise went. All this before the cigarette's finished. Can't remember him smoking on the bus... He's on the ball but in a different kind of way to traditional trainers. He's not flat-capped and check shirted. He wears trainers and jogging bottoms – rather than riding out gear – because it's his office day. He's not from racing aristocracy as so many top-flight trainers are, nor does he have a big backer in the league of a Sir Alex Ferguson or an Arab.

In football terms Midgley is dipping his toe in the Premiership. To be doing so without purpose-built training facilities (no equine swimming pools here) is increasingly rare. Last year there were 45 winners out of 50 horses here. Well over 60,000 miles were clocked up in the horsebox. A double at York, from Smarty Socks (33-1) and stable star Highland Warrior (16-1), pumped-up the profile rather nicely.

"To win among top class company at York never happens for some," says Midgley, who is recently separated. "For it to happen twice in one day was just mindblowing."

Ambitions? It's like looking over the school bus seat again. Midgley looks like that 13 year-old. He would never tell whether he was going show jumping at the weekend (we might be in with a shout if he wasn't) and he remains equally tight-lipped about the next furlong in his amazing adventure.

"Just to keep winning," he concludes. Will he be getting a complimentary copy of this newspaper? he asks. Think he can afford to buy his own these days.

Paul Midgley Racing, Sandfield Farm, Westow, York. 07976 965220.

YP MAG 17/7/10