MIDDLEHAM PARK RACING - Key Persons

Adrian Nicholls himself has lived and breathed horses since the day he was born. At a young age, he received the nickname "trotter" as he trotted behind his Father Dandy's (David Nicholls) every step when he went racing with him.

Brian Roderick Millman was born in 1957 and was raised in a family with a racing background. His father Brian was a permit holder in Devon where Rod first took part in pony and show jumping events as a boy. Upon leaving school Rod began his career as a jockey as apprentice to one of the master trainers of sprinters, Reg Akehurst at Lambourn, from 1972 to 1976. Rides were not easy to come by in those days but he still had five winners. He then went to Monty Stephens (the biggest private trainer in the country at the time), but rising weight decided his next move, which was to Kingsbridge-based trainer David Barron in 1977 as his conditional jockey. From there he spent time with Michael Chapman, Ron Atkins, Dougie Marks, and Martin Pipe, where he stayed until 1981 and then went freelance, joining the flat stable of Gerald Cottrell at Kentisbeare as work rider and eventually retiring from race riding in 1989 having ridden about 60 winners. This varied career taught him a great deal about the many training techniques across the country, giving him plenty of ideas for when he set up as a trainer in his own right. Millman took his dual-purpose trainer's license out on 1st November 1989 when he was 32 years old and did not have long to wait for his first winner. After only seven runners, which yielded three seconds, 20/1 shot Royal Dartmouth landed the Haseley Handicap at Warwick. The 5-year-old gelding was appropriately named for a Devon trainer and owned by Simon Duttfield, owner of Axminster Carpets. Royal Dartmouth would follow up this success with another win two weeks later.

Job Titles:

• Trainer
• Syndicate Manager for Horses Trained by

Job Titles:

• Racecourse Representative

Dave has spent all is working life in racing! He was apprentice jockey to Ron Atkins, where had over one hundred rides on the flat. He then became travelling head lad for Oliver and Simon Sherwood in National Hunt racing for 12 years. He then moved to become travelling head lad for Mick Channon for 10 years and latterly travelling head lad to Richard Hannon for 6 years. He also had a one year contract training at Wolverhampton where Dave trained winners across both codes.

Job Titles:

• Trainer

Job Titles:

• Racing Administrator

Emma joins the team in June 2023, as Racing Administrator. Her duties will be raceday customer & racecourse liaison and conducting general administrative duties. Emma says:

Job Titles:

• Trainer
• Newmarket Trainer

Job Titles:

• Social Media Editor & Marketing Assistant

Jamie runs our social media channels across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (these links can be seen below.) He also puts together our monthly newsletter, promotions and hew horse notifications to those on our mailing list.

Job Titles:

• Syndicate Manager for the Horses Trained by

Karl Burke was born over the Black Swan pub in Rugby and later moved across town to the Red Lion which his father ran for sixteen years during which time Karl gained his first interest in racing through watching it with his dad. Karl and his wife Elaine met at school and they have two girls Kelly and Lucy. Karl and his family have been based at Spigot Lodge in Wensleydale since 2000 which is steeped in racing history having been named after the 1821 St Leger winner Jack Spigot. Karl rode his first winner for Alan Jarvis in an apprentice race at Hamilton on The Britisher. Always likely to be too heavy for the Flat he switched codes to jump racing, and went on to gain 50 winners from 750 rides. Karls interests subsequently turned to training and his career took a new direction as he and Elaine set up a livery and pre-training yard in Newark where they broke young stock in. It was from here that they started training a small string of both flat and jump horses before moving to Broadway near Cheltenham where they rented a yard with more space. As the string of horses increased Karl moved to Ginge in 1990 where he enjoyed further success with horses such as Philistar and Daring Destiny; winner of the Ayr Gold Cup, a Group 2 in Germany and a Group 3 in Ireland. His profile as a trainer continued to grow and in 1998 he moved to High Havens Stables on Hamilton Road in Newmarket before he finally purchased Spigot Lodge where he has trained ever since.

Job Titles:

• Administrative Manager

Liam sends out race entries and declaration emails and keeps the 'ENTRIES' page of the website up to date and accurate. He also deals with all 'Racing Admin' as well as syndicate and name registrations, sponsorship, ordering of silks and branded items for yards. Always lots to do in the racing world and Liam is on top of it!

Michael Bell has been training in the historic yard of Fitzroy House, Newmarket for 30 years. During this time he has trained approaching 1400 winners and won over c £24 million worth of prize money. Fitzroy House is both one of the most picturesque and historic yards, not only in Newmarket but in the country. Built in the late 19th century, it has been home to two champion trainers, Marcus Marsh and Frank Butters, either side of the Second World War.

Job Titles:

• Director of Operations
• Partner

Paul Nicholls has now celebrated a notable landmark after 28 years as a racehorse trainer at Ditcheat and on April 18th 2019, he notched up his 3,000th winner. His career as a jockey yielded over 100 winners before he arrived at Manor Farm Stables in October 1991 with eight horses, a bucketful of dreams and an unshakeable belief that he would be successful. Fast forward a quarter of a century and Nicholls has now been champion trainer for 14 of the past 17 seasons. In fact, he has been either 1st or 2nd over the last 24 seasons! Yet statistics alone tell only half the story. What they cannot fully show is his God given talent, his boundless enthusiasm every day he steps into the yard and his uncanny skill at keeping the same horses in a rich vein of form year on year. No one does it better. Then there is his almost tangible will to win which encourages those who work with him to strive for success every bit as hard as he does. That was never more evident than in April, 2016 when the game looked all over for Nicholls after his great rival Willie Mullins established a huge lead in their enthralling duel for the trainers' title. His heart must have been in his boots after he drew a rare blank at the Grand National meeting at Aintree where Mullins carried all before him. But that didn't stop him trying to close the gap and on an unforgettable day at Ayr on April 16, Nicholls struck back with four winners including Vicente in the Scottish Grand National. Suddenly the battle for the title was far from over and when Nicholls enjoyed another four timer at Wincanton the next afternoon it was clear it would not be decided until the final day of the campaign at Sandown. The early success of Ptit Zig from his stable companion Silsol gave him a narrow advantage and though he was initially dismayed to see Just A Par overtaken near the line in his bid to win the bet365 Chase for the second time, his disappointment quickly turned to unbridled joy when people began rushing up to congratulate him on retaining his title. Paul Nicholls first public reaction was to emphasise that this latest success was entirely down to Team Ditcheat. But he is the driver and given that Willie Mullins delivered 14 Grade 1 winners to his two, Nicholls is surely entitled to believe that his 10th championship was his finest hour. Restlessly energetic he has improved the already impressive facilities at Ditcheat with the addition of a deep, round sand surface for slow work inside the loop on the flat gallop.

Rod's years with Reg Akehurst, Gerald Cottrell and the sprinters left an impression and he has successfully handled a fair few himself including Lord Kintyre, Fromsong and Whitbarrow who brought him his first Pattern race success in the 2001 Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood. Rod's skills are not limited to sprinters though. He has had stayers on the flat and over obstacles, training Kendal Cavalier, and later the two Group winning horses on the flat, Hawridge Prince and iconic stayer, Sergeant Cecil, who proved a monument to Millman's training skills, famously winning the Northumberland Plate-Ebor-Cesarewitch hat trick.

Job Titles:

• Website and Marketing Manager

Sarah joined MPR after being an owner with us since 2013 (in fact she still is, she can't help herself!) Her background is from the service industry, having been Operations Director at Hobbs, the fashion company for many years. Her skills have been used to put together our website and she focuses on everything that is ‘customer facing.' This includes our branding, marketing, events, our racing statistics, managing our website and overseeing our social media presence. Sarah also hosts our owners at selected racecourses when we have a runner. Sarah says: "Horse racing has always been my number one passion, but working in a 7 day a week industry such as retail, I very rarely had the time to actually go or even watch! When I left Hobbs, I decided to take the step into ownership and after contacting all the ‘known' syndicates, selected MPR and here I am now, six years later, with over 60 winners (yes, I keep a spreadsheet!) four at Listed level, plus a Group 3 and a Group 1 (and let's not forget the St Leger 2nd - we nearly did it!) so you could say I made the right choice..

Job Titles:

• Trainer

ARCHIE WATSON has spent his whole life around thoroughbreds. He grew up near Lambourn, the Valley of the Racehorse, and started riding out at the yard of Charlie Morlock as soon as he was old enough. After holiday stints with Alan King and Paul Webber and a summer with Graham Motion in the USA, his heart was already set on training racehorses. On leaving school in 2007, Archie spent time working first at Shadwell Stud in Norfolk before completing a stud season at historic Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand. He spent bloodstock sale seasons working for leading consultancy Blandford Bloodstock and then travelled to South Africa. There he successfully managed a satellite yard for two seasons based in Summerveld, Kwa-Zulu Natal for leading trainer Alec Laird, handler of South African racing legend London News. After a six-month spell in California shadowing trainer Simon Callaghan, who was at the time overseeing top class Grade 1 winner Belle Royale, Archie could not resist the lure of returning to the UK in 2012 when he was offered the unique opportunity to become assistant to leading English trainer William Haggas. Archie was able to complete his equine education at the renowned Somerville Lodge in Newmarket by learning from Haggas and his wife Maureen. Working with a large string of horses containing plenty of quality firepower was a dream come true for Archie, who was there to witness Mukhadram winning the Group 1 Coral Eclipse for Haggas in July 2014. Further success was to follow with the likes of Besharah in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at York, Storm The Stars in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes and Her Majesty The Queen's Recorder in the Group 3 Acomb Stakes. After four years in Newmarket, the chance arose for Archie to move back to Berkshire, where he has taken out a licence to train at historic Saxon Gate in Upper Lambourn. There, where names such as Mick Channon and National Hunt legend Fulke Walwyn enjoyed many highly successful years, is where Archie believes the time is right to embark on his own training career.

Sir Mark needs no introduction, he has been training from the historic Heath House, at the foot of Warren Hill in Newmarket for over 40 years and has saddled over 1500 winners at an excellent strike rate. He is a master at placing horses and reader of the form book, his philosophy is to get the very best out of each horse in his care whatever the horses ability. Contrary to popular belief he is an excellent trainer of two year olds, considering he is sent mostly stoutly bred horses, but he likes to keep that a secret so keep that one under your hat! He is a real character and his stable visits are a highly entertaining, informative and fascinating experience.

Job Titles:

• Partner and Director of Racing

Job Titles:

• Partner, Bloodstock and National Hunt Manager

Tom says "I've been around Middleham Park Racing my whole life, going on stable visits with Dad instead of playing cricket matches, racing at Beverley after school and spending my October half term in a wonderful place called Newmarket. I joined the team full time after finishing University, where I studied sports marketing and public relations.

Job Titles:

• Trainer
• Champion NH Trainer

Willie Mullins commenced training in 1988 having worked as assistant to both his father Paddy and to Jim Bolger. He still rates his father as the biggest influence on his career. A former six time amateur champion in Ireland, his greatest moments in the saddle were winning the 1983 Aintree Foxhunters on Atha Cliath and the 1996 Cheltenham champion bumper on Wither or Which As a trainer Willie has won just about every major prize in Ireland, most of the big ones in the UK and several in France as well for good measure. The Grand National, the Cheltenham gold cup (twice)The King George, The Champion hurdle in England, Ireland and France, the Supreme novice hurdle and numerous Cheltenham bumpers Despite all of the success he has had throughout his career the last ten seasons have arguably been the best campaigns of his career. His horses have remained remarkably consistent, and the 2017/2018 produced a record breaking season with 212 winners from 797 runners Willie has been the Champion NH trainer for the last fifteen years and he has won the title sixteen times in total.