Late blooming Miller finds his racing calling

By Jordan Gerrans

It was not until Jason Miller was sitting in the jockeys’ room on his second day at the races that he truly appreciated how far he had come. 

At 38 years of age, Miller is at the opposite end of the spectrum to when apprentices usually start their riding journey in races. 

The Kiwi native has made his way to Barcaldine in the Central West of the Sunshine State and it was at Clermont on Saturday afternoon when it clicked in his mind. 

“Well, I actually had this thought when I rode my second race at Clermont,” Miller reflected.

“I was sitting out in the jockey's room and I was just thinking to myself, I absolutely love this.

“I absolutely love doing this. I was thinking, I don't know why I left it for so long.”

The New Zealander has ridden from a young age in his homeland before relocating to Australia. 

He has had long stints away from the racing industry at times over the years. 

But, he eventually made his way back, as many horse people do, via regional Queensland. 

Miller has taken five rides as an official professional jockey since debuting at Longreach earlier this month. 

He is yet to nab a winner, but he is getting closer, landing two minor placings at Clermont on Saturday afternoon. 

Miller is indentured to top bush mentor Bevan Johnson, with all five of his career rides coming for his master in recent weeks. 

“I absolutely love working for them,” the apprentice rider said of the Johnson barn. 

“They're hard. They work you hard, but they're fair at the same time.

“If you put in the work, they'll give you the work. They give you the rewards.

“It's a good experience being here because when I was in New Zealand, I worked for a lot of city trainers, some of the big names in Matamata I worked for.

“There are just too many horses in those sorts of stables. They've got a good number of horses here at the Johnson stable.

“The way they treat their horses, they get treated better than a human, pretty much.

“I do absolutely love it out here. I'm probably only going to stay out in the country because I'm not a city person. I love the country too much.”

After riding trackwork for many years as a youngster in NZ, Miller spent a decade away from the saddle and worked in a sawmill in South Australia.

Miller’s brother Luke, who was based at Miles in regional Queensland at the time, sparked his return to the game.

Luke has ridden and trained his own team over the years.

Miller was just strapping for his brother at the time before eventually being legged up again aboard a galloper and, as they say, the rest is history.

“When I wasn’t riding, I just had that old hole in the heart,” he said.

“Just something was missing.”

Miller rode work for Columboola-based conditioner Maleah Hill for a couple of years before eventually making his way to Barcaldine with the Johnson clan, who are famous for their association with bush icon Fab’s Cowboy.

He heads to Alpha this Saturday in search of his maiden winner before Emerald hosts a TAB meeting on Monday. 

The Johnson camp has a big team of seven nominated for Saturday at Alpha, including Caffrey in the Cup. 

Caffrey is a two-time defending champion of the Alpha Cup, while also claiming the Country Cups Challenge Final last year in the city. 

“There's a couple of things I've got to work on,” Miller said of his early days of race riding.

“But, that's just going to come with more racing. I am chasing that first winner.

“I was hoping to get the first winner at Clermont the other day so hopefully it isn’t far away.”

Miller has his riding weight listed at 58kg and is hopeful of lowering it over the coming months as he builds his fitness with more race riding opportunities.

Miller is not the only mature-aged jockey who has made their debut in recent times.

The Sunshine Coast-based Steph Tierney has been riding around Queensland over the last year after debuting in her late 30s.

Tierney has quickly racked up more than 40 career winners.