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Ian Balding, the man who trained the legendary colt Mill Reef, has died at the age of 87.
He was also a Cheltenham Festival-winning rider and part of a racing dynasty, which carried on via his successful son Andrew.
But Mill Reef was the horse who made his name, just six years after he was handed the training licence at Kingsclere, near Newbury, in 1964 on the death of Peter Hastings-Bass.
He was a high-class two-year-old and, although he was beaten in the 2,000 Guineas at three, he went on to win the Derby, Eclipse, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to help make Balding champion trainer in 1971.
Ian Balding and Mill Reef, with Queen Elizabeth II in the background at Ascot in 1970Credit: George W. Hales/Fox Photos/Getty Images
Mill Reef raced in the colours of Paul Mellon, who also owned the yard’s six-time Group 1 winner Glint Of Gold and Forest Flower, the champion two-year-old filly in 1986 who landed the Irish 1,000 Guineas the following year.
Balding also had a lot of success for Queen Elizabeth II, notably winning the 1974 Musidora Stakes at York with Escorial, while his undoubted star of the 1990s was Jeff Smith’s top-class sprinter Lochsong, who was voted Cartier Horse of the Year in 1993.
He retired in 2002 and was succeeded by Andrew, who has enjoyed numerous Group and Grade 1 victories since.
Ian and Andrew Balding at Kingsclere in 2001Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)
Balding claimed the biggest of his 65 winners as an amateur jockey on Time in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham in 1963.
He rode his own horse Ross Poldark in the Foxhunter Chase over the Grand National fences at Aintree in 1985 at the age of 46 and was still riding in his 70s.
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