24/25 and earlier PtP & Hunter Chase discussion

Max Comley, 27, trained his first winner in 2019, won two point-to-point classics with Just Your Type in 2023 and announced himself as one of the top pointing trainers last year, winning 23 races with the likes of Jay Bee Whiskey and Wagner, and finishing third in the championship table. Like so many of his peers, Max – who has recently moved yards – has taken out a rules licence, but he retains his passion for the amateur sport and his partner, 23-year-old Elen Wylie, now trains their pointers from Summerhill Farm, Naunton, just down the road from Nigel Twiston-Davies. Jake Exelbyvisited the couple last month to discuss their plans for the season and to hear why they believe pointing should embrace professionalism.

“I grew up near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire,” Elen tells me. “Dad’s always been into racing – his uncle, Peter Madden, was a flat jockey, and we always used to go to our local point-to-points. I started riding out for Max when I was studying at the Royal Agricultural University, caught the pointing bug, and have been working full-time in the yard since last season.”

Which makes Elen, surely, a key factor in Max’s success in 2023/2024? She laughs at the suggestion. “My role is more day-to-day. I’m behind the scenes, while Max deals with the owners. He’s also really good with nutrition – we use Gain for our feed. We were also doing everything properly last season and planning and placing horses better. Our owners gave us freedom to run our horses where they could win – Jay Bee Whiskey and Wagner did so as far afield as Cornwall and Scotland – and having James King as our jockey is a real help. Max and he have been friends for a long time, are on the phone all week and they’re a formidable pairing.”

Elen talks about their move from nearby Brockhill Lodge to the stables from which Fergal O’Brien launched his stellar training career. “We came here in November,” she says, “Because we needed a sole purpose yard. Caroline Mackness – the owner – offered it to us and she’s been brilliant, being a long-term supporter of racing and pointing, and she has Battleoverdoyen in training with us. It’s close to Nigel’s,” she continues, “Near where we live, and the facilities are superb. We have access to Nigel’s gallops, a new schooling ground, turn-out paddocks, an indoor and outdoor school, lunge pen, solarium, medical treatment box and horse walker. And Summerhill Equine Vets are next door!”

The team includes Jack Wilmot, who used to work for Jonjo O’Neill, Harry Greasby, Daisy Horsfield, and former jockey Otis Morgan, who comes in twice a week. Elen is hoping to give Jack rides, and confirmed, “James King will always be our first-choice jockey – he’s fantastic. Even when he’s out the back, you know you can trust him. He’s so clever – by Monday afternoon he seems to know exactly what’s running at the weekend!”

Elen had an ideal start to her training career when Jullou De Grissay won at Horseheath on New Year’s Eve and – while many of the horses in the yard who have been running between the flags are set to go under rules – “He’ll stick to pointing for the time being. The Maiden he won was a good race and we’ll see if he can go through the grades like Jay Bee Whiskey. They’re similar horses – both small and speedy.” He followed up at Cocklebarrow recently, initiating a double completed by Boss Man Fred in the Lord Ashton of Hyde’s Cup ‘classic’. Boss Man Fred then made it four out of five for Elen at Brocklesby Park.

I’d been to Brockhill Lodge to see Max between the first two Covid lockdowns and asked him and Elen their highlights of the past four years. For Elen, “Our Wadebridge double last season with Jay Bee Whiskey and Wagner. It was really satisfying. I really believed in the two horses, and it proved they could win anywhere you took them.” Of Wagner, who ran in the Maryland Hunt Cup in April and is aiming for the same race this year, she added, “He’s tough as nails and would gallop through brick walls. If you could design a racehorse, it would be him.”

“This time last year,” Max chips in, “It felt like everything we touched turned to gold. We had seven winners in a row, everything was coming to fruition, our owners felt rewarded and the atmosphere in the yard was buzzing – it was so much fun.”

And the frustrations? “It was tricky business-wise after Covid,” Max admits. “And the past six months have been tough – nothing to do with the horses, but there’s been so much change, with moving yards and taking out a licence. I’ve been away for weeks at a time doing the courses. And, while we started moving here in November, there was an overlap and our last day at Brockhill Lodge was New Year’s Eve. We had a runner at Horseheath, and everyone seemed to be off work with a bug.” Elen doesn’t paint a sympathetic picture of her partner. “Max always says, ‘You don’t muck out with your nose!’”

Elen explains the reasons she and Max are focusing less on pointing, and more on the professional side. “Unless you’re a hardcore pointing fan, if you can run your horse under rules, why wouldn’t you? It’s so much more rewarding for owners, not just prize money but the facilities – pointing’s not going to change any time soon – and we charge the same fees.” Max agrees. “It’s been a natural progression, and an obvious switch. Brockhill Lodge was brilliant, but it was never the long-term plan. For example, we had to box-up to go to the gallops, and the staff can live on-site here, which makes for a better culture. Here, we have scope for growth, and the dynamic of our business has changed.”

Max views their operation very much as a business but isn’t turning his back on the pointing field in which he made his reputation. “We train the pointers the same as the rules horses,” he stresses. “It would have been easy not to have any pointers, but I don’t want to move away from it completely and we’ll probably run at least five this season between the flags – Jullou De Grissay and Boss Man Fred will both stay pointing.” While he agrees with Elen that the overall rules package is better, “Point-to-pointing is ‘access all areas’. You can get closer to the action, closer to the horses, and it’s a close-knit community.”

However, he warns, “I could see a time when Max Comley Racing is rules only – not because I only want to train professionally, but if my owners don’t want to go pointing.” And one side of Max’s business that has already changed is his production of young horses to win maidens or bumpers, which he then sells. “That’s off the cards now I’ve taken out a licence,” he admits. “Our owners are willing to trust us to find a nice horse and buy it for them but, if I run a horse in a point and send it to the sales, people will think, ‘Why doesn’t he keep it in his yard?’” Elen agrees, “It would be a conflict of interest.”

Max explains the reasons for his decisions. “The numbers in pointing are only going in one direction. We had over 2,000 horses before Covid but only about 1,500 now and it needs to open up to allow more competitive racing. We should be encouraging licenced trainers. For example, it would give kudos for an amateur yard to beat professionals in a bumper and allowing them to run in Novice Riders races and Opens would bring older horses into point-to-points. I don’t think rules trainers will take over the sport, and we have to move with the times.”

Max also has firm views on what he’d do if he was in charge of running the sport of pointing. “I’d go round every trainer in the country and ask what they want (from the PPA) to stay in the sport. We’re not looking after our participants enough. I wanted to stay amateur and have a go at the trainers championship this year, but don’t feel I’m being listened to – I’ve been putting a lot into the sport but think that I’m not getting anything back.” His advice would be, “To go to different areas of the country and have conversations about subjects like race planning, the fixture list and how to get more owners.”

The return of live streaming would be one of Max’s solutions to the latter conundrum. “I’ve said before that I hoped Covid (when many meetings were live streamed) would give it impetus, but it stopped overnight, and it seems like nobody’s sat down and thought of a plan to make it work. It helps promote the sport and could bring in money through sponsorship, including from the sales companies and bloodstock agents. Pointing should be budgeting for it and speaking to the likes of At the Races and Sky Sports Racing, even ITV.” He’s on a roll now. “It would also give opportunities to young people hoping to get into broadcasting and racing, or students doing media and communications.”

Max cites an example of how a lack of coverage has cost him a sale. “When we won the bumper at Chaddesley Corbett with Lady Fortune, we had a buyer lined up, but they wanted to see the video of the race. It took me ten days to get hold of it and, by that time, the opportunity had gone.”

Elen agrees. “It’s 2025, everyone has a smartphone and there are so many young passionate people (who might be willing to film races). People need to let go of tradition – just because you didn’t have live streaming in the past doesn’t mean you shouldn’t now – but sponsorship is key. Look at (social media feed run by jockey Paddy Barlow and their employee Harry Greasby) GB Pointers,” she adds. “It allows people to follow horses that go under rules. Like the Jockey Cup for professional riders. It’s bringing to life their personalities and we should be doing the same with our jockeys, trainers and owners. It would ‘break down the fourth wall’ and bring life to pointing. The stories behind our championship races every year are brilliant. It would make the sport more accessible and give it more character.”

“The sport’s social media needs to be run better,” concludes Elen of our debate on promoting pointing. “A lot of the time, unless you’re involved, you don’t know the participants. But now I am, my 18-year-old brother Gareth went to Horseheath, then Cocklebarrow with a load of his mates, and loved it. He told me that James King was the messiah! We need to show people that it’s just like racing under rules… but in a field.”