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Very sorry to hear this news.
Mill Reef was before I can remember but I have watched plenty of his races since. I fondly remember Selkirk and Lochsong from around the time I first started to properly follow racing.
My sympathy to his family and friends.
Yeah, Mill Reef was a few years before I was born but I grew up knowing about how special a horse he was and my early racing years included seeing those famous Mellon coloursbeing carried by the likes of Glint of Gold, Diamond Shoal, Gold and Ivory, Forest Flower, English Spring and Crystal Spirit (who won the Sun Alliance Novices’ Hurdle).
That’s not forgeting the other great horses he trained like Silly Season (Coventry Stakes, Dewhurst Stakes, St James’s Palace Stakes, Champion Stakes and Lockinge winner), Mrs Penny (French Oaks & Prix Vermeille winner), Selkirk (Lockinge and QE2 winner) and of course the Queen of Speed herself Lochsong who after winning the three big sprint handicaps (Stewards Cup, Portland and Ayr Gold Cup) in the same season then went on in 1993 and 1994 to win two Prix de l’Abbayes, along with a Nunthorpe Stakes, King Stand Stakes, two King George Stakes and other notable sprint races that saw her crowned not only Champion Sprinter twice but also Horse of the Year in 1993.
The thing I didn’t realise was that he had 65 wins as an amateur (61 over jumps and 4 on the flat) and that it included him riding a Cheltenham Festival winner in 1963 in the National Hunt Chase and in 1985 (at age 46) he rode his own horse over the Aintree fences in the Foxhunters (when the fences were still a true jumping test).
A true old school racing man who not only leaves a legacy of great racehorses but also a family legacy with his son Andrew taking over the reins and becoming a Classic winning trainer in his own right, which famously saw him being interviewed after winning the Oaks (in his first season training) by his sister (the BBC presenter/broadcaster) Clare. Her own tribute to her father included this rather amusing part:
“He loved his dogs, his horses and his family – probably in that order.
RIP and condolences to all his family and friends.
When I first started following racing I recall a horse he trained called Mailman , he cleaned up the amatuer races if my memory correct , in the Mellon colours .
Seems like only yesterday his name was in racecard as a trainer but read he retired in 2002 !!Pretty sure Mailman ran in grey and pink, not the Mellon colours. Was a chestnut horse with a white face, IIRC.
those famous Mellon coloursbeing carried by the likes of Glint of Gold, Diamond Shoal, Gold and Ivory, Forest Flower, English Spring and Crystal Spirit
Not only were the Mellon horses generally good sorts but their euphonious names appealed as well.
Glint Of Gold my favourite: won several Group 1s in Europe but always the bridesmaid in the top flight here, being second in the Derby, St Leger and Coronation Cup; and third in the King George, which was the only time he finished outside the top two.
RIP Ian Balding, who always came across as a good sort too.
Mailman had a long career, racing as an 11-y-o.
A useful handicapper, won the Chesterfield Cup at Goodwood. Won amateur races at Ayr and Folkestone for Clare.
Owned by Mrs John A McDougald Farms Inc.
....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
I believe John Mathias thought he had won the Derby on Glint Of Gold. Then he looked up and saw Walter Swinburn trying to pull up Shergar beyond The Rubbing House!
Several years ago I was in a pub with 2 lads from the Ian Balding stable. They said they had a horse called ‘Barclay Springs they were very happy about. It had had a bad back but was better now and was flying. I was told it would definitely win a big race within a week. So I watched for this horse for several days, but could not find it. I was driving hone one day listening to the car radio when it was announced ‘Barclay Springs’ the winner.
How could I have missed it? Well the answer is that the horse was called Berkeley Springs.
But I always seem to get in wrong: I was a fan of Brigadier Gerard, rather than Mill Reef so missed out on several winners.
A great trainer with an accomplished daughter. Which brings me to: who is the only female who has ridden a Derby winner? It was, of course, Clare Balding who rode Mill Reef, but not on the racecourse!
Ian, RIP.
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