This afternoon (7 April), racehorse trainer Milton Harris celebrated his first Grade One winner when Knight Salute won the four-year-old juvenile hurdle at the Grand National meeting at Aintree Racecourse. Here, we find out a little bit more about him…
1. Milton Harris has a license to train both Flat and National Hunt (jump) racehorses.
2. He first started training in 2001, when based in the Cotswolds. He now trains out of a yard near Warminster in Wiltshire, which he moved to in 2018.
3. Milton didn’t have a traditional route into racing – he grew up in a council flat in Bromsgrove and it was only while working as a barman that he first got into racing when he saw pub-goers putting on bets.
4. He then went to Miami to work as a bartender on cruise ships – he acted as the ship’s bookmaker while there too.
5. He had a seven-year break from racing between 2011 and 2018 after declaring bankruptcy.
6. Milton sent out his first winner as a trainer in 2001.
7. Since regaining his trainer’s licence in 2018, Milton has trained 82 National Hunt winners. This season he is enjoying his most successful period as a trainer, with 52 winners so far – his previous best period was during the 2010/11 season, when he sent out 32 winners.
Keep up to date with all of Horse & Hound’s Grand National coverage this week via horseandhound.co.uk, where you will be able to read all of the latest news and features on the three-day meeting at Aintree.
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