Ian Balding, trainer of legendary Derby winner Mill Reef, dies at the age of 87

Ian Balding, who trained the brilliant Mill Reef to win the Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1971 and later saddled the hugely popular sprinter Lochsong to a string of victories in major races, has died aged 87, his family said in a statement on Friday.

“We are very sorry to share the sad news that Ian Balding has passed away,” they said on their Park House Stables Instagram page. “A wonderful family man, a hugely successful racehorse trainer and a brilliant sportsman. He will be greatly missed by everyone at Park House.”

Balding was just 26 when he took over the license to train at the historic yard, near Kingsclere in Berkshire, in 1964 following the death of his father-in-law, Peter Hastings-Bass. Widely regarded as one of the country’s finest training institutions, it had previously been the base for John Porter, arguably the greatest trainer of the Victorian era, who sent out three Triple Crown winners between 1886 and 1899, and Balding was soon added to the roll of honour, with Royal Ascot winners in 1964 and 1965.

At the time he was already a successful amateur jumps rider, with victories including victory aboard Time in the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 1963, and he established himself among the Flat racing elite when Mill Reef emerged as a leading two-year-old in 1969.

Mill Reef won the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Gimcrack at York and the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, the best junior event of the season, in his two-year-old season. His first major race assignment at the age of three was the 1970 2,000 Guineas, in one of the strongest fields ever assembled for a British classic, with legendary miler Brigadier Gerard and France’s best two-year-old My Swallow also in opposition.

Mill Reef finished second to Brigadier Gerard, but later won the Derby, the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot and then the Arc, Europe’s showpiece middle distance event, at Longchamp in Paris. He was only the second Derby winner, after Sea-Bird II in 1965, to win the Derby and Arc in the same season, and remains one of only seven colts to complete the double.

Mill Reef’s exploits saw Balding finish the season as champion trainer at the Flat, but the colt’s racing career was ended by a broken leg, suffered during a routine gallop, in August 1972, although he was saved to stand as a stallion at the National Stud.

Subsequent outstanding performers at Balding’s yard have included Glint Of Gold, the winner of six Group 1 races, a top class miler at Selkirk, the winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in 1991, and the brilliant filly Lochsong, the champion sprinter in 1993 and 1994.

Lochsong completed a treble in major sprint handicaps, including the Stewards’ Cup and the Ayr Gold Cup in 1992, and went on to win the Nunthorpe Stakes at York in 1993 and the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp in 1993 and 1994.

Balding was for many years one of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s leading trainers, winning the Musidora Stakes at York with Escorial and also saddled Insular to win the Queen Mother’s Cup at the same track in 1988, with her daughter, the Princess Royal, in the saddle.

Balding returned to his winter code roots when Crystal Spirit took the two-and-a-half mile beginners’ hurdle at the 1991 Cheltenham Festival, and he also rode Ross Poldark, a horse he owned, over the Grand National fences at Aintree in the 1985 Foxhunter Chase.

Balding’s father, Gerald, and older brother, Toby, were also successful trainers, and his son, Andrew, has maintained his father’s record of consistent success in major races with multiple victories in the Classic and Group 1 since taking over the license at Park House in 2002.

His daughter, Clare, was also a fine amateur jockey before embarking on a hugely successful broadcasting career. She paid tribute on Friday, posting on social media: “My father was one of a kind. Fearless, funny and charming, he was an all-round sportsman, a great trainer and a beautiful rider.”

“He loved his dogs, his horses and his family – probably in that order. He shared his passion for sports with me and taught me to be brave enough to chase a dream even when it seemed impossible. We will miss him so much.”