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My favourite flat racehorse ever was Mill Reef.I have never seen a flat racehorse endowed with such an ability to literally float along.Mill Reef’s running action exhibited no violence and reminded you of a violinist strutting hi strings.The feline grace exhibited in his strides was sheer poetry in motion.When cruising into the lead he posessed the acceleration of an passenger train starting his journey but combined with the grace of a bird flying in the air.
No flat horse has won the Epsom Derby.King George 6th and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes,Eclipse stakes and Prix deL’Arc de Triomphe.Mill Reef demolished high class horses like Caro,Linden Tre,Ortis,Stintino and Pistol Packer on this road.In the Epsom Derby Mill Reef’s runner up Linden Tree went on to win the st Leger while Caro who Mill Reef vanquished in the Eclipse Stakes was one of the finest champion older horses to have raced in Europe in recent years.In the King George,Mill Reef arguably even bettered Niinsky’s effort the previous year leaving opponents like Ortis and Stintino like an aeroplane leaving a ruanway.In the Arc he superbly dissected a strong field to cruise home by 3 lengths.
In the following year Mill Ref won the Prix Ganay making his oponents look like cattle walking to a slaughterhouse.In the Coronation cup however he was given the race of his life by Homeric ,having just suffered from a bout of fever.
Arguably Mill Reef gave the best performance of hi career as a 2 year old when he won the Gimrack stakes in firm going at York by amargin of 10 lengths.
No great flat champion displayed such versatality to be equally effective on soft ground and firm ground as Mill Reef.Brigadier Gerard was not at his best on heavy going and was hard -pressed to win in those conditions.Dancing Brave would have been withdrawn from the 1986 Arc had the going been heavy.Nijinsky never proved himself on heavy going and even Sea the Stars would have been withdrawn from the 2009 Arc if the ground was soft.This proves how unique our little colt was.Nijinsky,Sea the Stars or Dancing Brave did not beat older horses with as much authority as Mill Reef.His average wining distances in his big races were around 4 lengths.True Dancing Brave revealed greater acceleration and Nijinsky and Sea the Stars showed equal talent in their performances,but for overall consistency and Temperament Mill Reef came out on top.On soft ground over 10 fulongs he would have demolished Brigadier Gerard.
Was 141 a fair rating to Mill Reef?Brigadier Gerard was rated 3 lbs above him,in 1972.However that was on the basis of his 1972 season as a 4 year old where he was awarded 3 lbs more than his previous year’s mark of 141.I feel Mill Reef faced better opponents than Brigadier Gerard if you consider that Sparkler,Riv
erman,Gold Rod and Steel Pulse who the Brigadier beat were not on par with those who Mill Reef beat like Caro,Ortis,Pistol Packer,Linden Tree etc.in 1971.Had Mill Reef had a complete season in 1972 I am convinced he would have atleast been rated on par with Brigadier Gerard.I would have backed him to win another King George and Arc.There is a possibility that Mill Reef could have given both Ribot and Sea Bird,a run for their money at his best.Hyperion is rated at 142,but all said and done I would consider Mill Reef with Sea the Stars the best British middle-distance colt ever .Arguably Mill Reef was the best ever middle-distance British racehorse.Andre Fabre,the great French trainers stated that Mill Reef was the best flat racehorse he had ever seen.
http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-ra … t7DaysNews
"For me Mill Reef was the ultimate thoroughbred so far but Frankel is better," Fabre added.
Can we really call Frankel a middle distance horse? I’d have thought you’de have to run at all three trips to qualify.
I think Mill Reef is the best 12f horse the UK ever had second to none but Frankel would have murdered him at a mile and 10f on good ground.
It is the Sea The Stars thing that really irritates me. There is not one formline that entitles him to be mentioned in the same sentence as the likes of Frankel, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, Sea Bird, Ribot. He just beat a poor bunch, Mastercraftsman, Youmzain, Rip Van Winkle – they would be absolutely destroyed by the above horses.
He’s certainly up there. Many people think that Nijinsky ( on King George day ), Shergar on Derby day, and Dancing Brave on Arc day, would have had too much toe for the little pocket rocket.
Ian Balding, of course, maintained that he had not seen a better middle distance than his own Mill Reef until Sea The Stars came along. "He has to be the best now , he said of Sea The Stars, after his Arc win – "although, I didn’t see Sea-Bird."
Before then, Balding wouldn’t put any horse above Mill Reef.
Mill Reef was equally effective on all types of going, unlike many of the other greats. Sea-Bird was another.
John Hislop, in his book about Brigadier Gerard, contends that Mill Reef was not the same horse at four that he was at three, whereas Brigadier Gerard had grown into a magnificent specimen, he felt Mill Reef hadn’t matured at the same rate and had lost some of his brilliant condition. Hislop said he was absolutely confident that The Brigadier was the better horse and would definitely have beaten Mill Reef over 10f at four.
Although Mill Reef won the Prix Ganay by a distance, he beat a very poor field – something that is often overlooked. Dick Hern tested the water in the Coronation Cup by once again pitting Homeric against Mill Reef. Mill Reef just won, although Ian Balding said his horse was found to be unwell after the race. Mill Reef did not run again after breaking his leg on the gallops, as we know.
At two and three, Mill Reef was most definitely a superb racehorse. I doubt any other horse – well, certainly not for a long, long time, will replicate his achievements as a three year old.
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Ian Balding quoted on the Sporting Life website:
He considers Frankel to be probably the best horse ever but wonders what would happened if he had run over a mile and a half.
"It was fantastic and I was just thrilled to be there. It was a wonderful occasion and wonderful for racing," he said.
"Mill Reef was the horse of a lifetime for me. This fellow is obviously Henry’s horse of a lifetime and he’s had more good horses than anyone.
"You can’t deny that Frankel must be pretty well the best we’ve ever seen.
"I would say that the other greats like Sea The Stars, Sea-Bird, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard – all of them have won at a mile and a half.
"It’s not Frankel’s fault he’s not been asked to run at that distance, but it just looked to me at Ascot just maybe he was at the end of his tether.
"I don’t think he’d have wanted to go much further, especially on that ground."
I agree that if Mill Reef had had a successful 4yo campaign he would almost certainly have been given a higher ranking. Sadly he didn’t and was said to be significantly lighter at 4 than at 3. Ian Balding never really got him back to his best at 4 and he was withdrawn from the Eclipse, the King George and the International prior to his tragic accident on the gallops when he was said to be returning to something like his old form for a tilt at another Arc.
For me the only 12f horse I’ve seen race to be in Mill Reef’s league was Dancing Brave but I’ve never seen a horse with a better action than Mill Reef. I include Dancing Brave because he won the same races at 3 as Mill Reef apart from the Derby and his defeat there was in no way down the horse.
It is the Sea The Stars thing that really irritates me. There is not one formline that entitles him to be mentioned in the same sentence as the likes of Frankel, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, Sea Bird, Ribot. He just beat a poor bunch, Mastercraftsman, Youmzain, Rip Van Winkle – they would be absolutely destroyed by the above horses.
He was a good looking horse though
Funny enough David Cleary one of the best judges of horse flesh in the UK thought he was a star. Maybe he has shares in him I’m with you I thought he was a very good horse nothing more nothing less. A big plus was he won at three trips but those you mention could put distance between themselves and their opponents within a couple of hundred yards something Sea the Stars seemed incapable of.
His fans will argue he only did what he had to but that’s the biggest crock in racing. What he did is what he was capable of no doubt in my mind on that score.
You look at any race he won and put the likes of Dancing Brave or Nijinsky upsides him a furlong and half out and what’s he going to do? Sprout wings…..Almost every good horse has the ability to travel well what separates them is their ability to take off like a rocket and leave others in their wake and that’s what he lacked. Imagine him an Frankel going for home at the same time…….Frankel would have put 6 lengths between him and himself in 100yds
Lets put the question this way.Who was the best English racehorse EVER,who did not race in the Derby? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced beyond a mile and 1/4? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced in a King George? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced in the Arc? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced outside England? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced in a Breeders Cup?Got it?And the answer is,wait for it FRANKEL of course.But there are so few with such a profile to compare him with.Certainly not Mill Reef
Maybe it’s time the Derby was more of a middle distance test by being dropped to a distance of 10f, much like the French Derby.
Maybe it’s time the Derby was more of a middle distance test by being dropped to a distance of 10f, much like the French Derby.
12 furlongs is a middle distance. It is
the
classic distance, no matter how much D. Wayne Lukas, Todd Pletcher, and the rest of the Quarter Horse trainers wish it weren’t so.
Pity more were not around on the forum at the time when the French decided that a mile and four was too strenuous for their three year olds.Of course we could scrap all the classics except the Guineas.Also all the open age races beyond a mile and two.And confine our horses to racing on grass except when it is too soft.And under no circumstances take on the world’s best except here in England.And watch the market for English bred grass horses dry up.(Trouble is the prize money is so much better overseas than many trainers scrap loyalty for cash and head overseas with their best horses to earn a living.)
Lets put the question this way.Who was the best English racehorse EVER,who did not race in the Derby? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced beyond a mile and 1/4? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced in a King George? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced in the Arc? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced outside England? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced in a Breeders Cup?Got it?And the answer is,wait for it FRANKEL of course.But there are so few with such a profile to compare him with.Certainly not Mill Reef
Go on Andrew, I give in. It can’t be the figment of your compulsive disorder cos Frankel won over 10.5 furlongs, and even over there in cloud cuckoo land surely a mile and a quarter is 10 furlongs?
Lets put the question this way.Who was the best English racehorse EVER,who did not race in the Derby? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced beyond a mile and 1/4? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced in a King George? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced in the Arc? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced outside England? Who was the best English racehorse EVER who never raced in a Breeders Cup?Got it?And the answer is,wait for it FRANKEL of course.But there are so few with such a profile to compare him with.Certainly not Mill Reef
BTW Andrew, you left out NEVER ran stuffed to the hilt with illegal substances as with that old hack Secretariat that you were so fond of.
Funny enough David Cleary one of the best judges of horse flesh in the UK thought he was a star. Maybe he has shares in him 
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