I quit as a jockey aged 22 to be an undertaker

A FORMER jumps jockey whose arm was left literally blowing in the wind after a horror fall swapped horses for hearses and became a funeral director.

Paul Robson was one of the go-to names to follow in the early 2000s with a run of decent successes.

In the 2002-03 National Hunt season he banged in 29 winners and amassed £224,297 in earnings.

The following two seasons saw him bring up six-figure totals for connections too as he notched a further 42 triumphs.

But his career was to come to an abrupt end in 2005 aged just 22 when he suffered a terrible injury during one fall.

Robson explained: "My last competitive race was in 2005 and it saw my shoulder so badly injured and dislocated that my arm was blowing in the wind."

After winning 89 races Robson, as well as being in pain from injuries, was on the lookout for a new job.

He initially retrained as a joiner but found his true calling as a funeral director in his family business.

He said: "When I stopped racing, I was lost.

"I tried lots of things to get that adrenaline buzz again, but training as a funeral director and working with families, I started to enjoy the pressure this brings to get everything just right for them.

"My family also had a joinery and carpentry business but things got difficult.

"My grandfather had combined the business with being a funeral director so I decided to concentrate on that."

Based in Hawick in the Scottish Borders, Robson is the company director and senior funeral director at the firm.

But now it is his racing career that is back from the dead after he returned to the sport as a trainer.

He landed his first winner as a trainer at Kelson in 2021 while further wins have come out at Ayr, Leicester, Newcastle, Perth and Uttoxeter.

Over the past five seasons he has earnings of £80,271 on the racetrack - which supplement the income he gets from his family business.

Robson's best horse at the moment looks to be veteran ten-year-old chaser Just Don't Know.

He has won four of his 19 races under rules and has brought in £46,996, with his most recent win coming in a match race at Ayr earlier this year.

Paul's current team of staff includes wife Steph, who is herself an accomplished dressage rider, and they're looking to expand their operation with more top-notch jumpers.

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