02/01/2026
We are saddened to learn that Ian Balding, legendary trainer of the brilliant Mill Reef, has died at the age of 87.
β«οΈπ‘ Here we look back at one of racing greats, who was trained by Ian Balding, Mill Reef, who achieved a Timeform rating of 141.
Mill Reef was an outstanding performer, one of the best middle-distance performers in Timeformβs experience. He won 12 of his 14 races, and suffered his only two defeats to similarly first-rate performers in My Swallow (unbeaten in seven races as a two-year-old) and Brigadier Gerard (at a mile, over that horseβs favoured distance). His record of six consecutive Group 1 wins stood for 30 years until beaten in 2002 by Rock of Gibraltarβs seven.
A neat, strongly-made c**t, Mill Reef was bred at his ownerβs stud in the United States. He was by the Nasrullah stallion Never Bend, who topped the Experimental Free Handicap as a two-year-old when he won the Champagne Stakes by eight lengths and was placed in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes the following year.
Mill Reef is the second foal of Milan Mill, who injured a hind leg so severely as a foal that she had it encased in plaster for seven months, but she recovered sufficiently well to have one outing as a two-year-old. Her first foal, Milan Meadow, a full-brother to Mill Reef, won in the United States. And in 1973, Milan Mill produced Memory Lane, also by Never Bend who won the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom and was third in the race at Newbury named after her sibling.
Milan Mill was a half-sister to Goose Creek, a smart handicapper at up to a mile, and Berkeley Springs, a high-class filly who was second in the 1966 1000 Guineas and Oaks. Mill Reefβs fifth dam was the celebrated Black Ray, from whom descend such notable winners as Pipe of Peace, Magic Red, Khaled, Blushing Groom and Ladyβs Secret.
Mill Reef, who was a superbly fluent mover, was equally effective at a mile and a quarter as at a mile and a half, and acted on all types of going.
