Greatest Racehorses: Mill Reef 137245

Pedigree Details

Sire: Never Bend

Dam: Milan Mill

Dam's Sire: Princequillo

Breeder: Paul Mellon

Foaled: 23 February 1968

Race Record & Factfile

Races: 14

Wins: 12

Owner: Paul Mellon

Trainer: Ian Balding

Profile

Mill Reef was an outstanding performer, one of the best middle-distance performers in Timeform’s 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 horse’s favoured distance). His record of six consecutive Group 1 wins stood for 30 years until beaten in 2002 by Rock of Gibraltar’s seven.

A neat, strongly-made colt, Mill Reef was bred at his owner’s 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 Reef’s fifth dam was the celebrated Black Ray, from whom descend such notable winners as Pipe of Peace, Magic Red, Khaled, Blushing Groom and Lady’s 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.

Two-year-old season (1970)

Mill Reef was one of the best of an outstanding crop of two-year-olds that raced in Britain in 1970. The top four on both Timeform ratings and the Free Handicap, My Swallow (134), Mill Reef (133), Brigadier Gerard (132) and the filly Cawston’s Pride (131), won 24 of their 25 races, the only loss being Mill Reef’s short-head defeat to My Swallow in the Prix Robert Papin at Maisons-Laffitte.

That Mill Reef was a good two-year-old in the making was evident on his first appearance. Fireside Chat had already created an excellent impression when winning a 27-runner maiden at Newmarket at the end of April by four lengths and he started at 9/2-on for the Salisbury Stakes at Salisbury two weeks later. Mill Reef, at 8/1, was second favourite, but he was always going too well for Fireside Chat and raced right away in the final furlong, winning by a long-looking four lengths.

Few doubted Mill Reef would win at Royal Ascot and he started at 11/4-on in a five-runner field for the Coventry Stakes. Cromwell, who had won a maiden at Newmarket the time before, couldn’t get Mill Reef out of a canter, and Mill Reef spent the last furlong in isolation, winning by eight lengths, with Cromwell five lengths clear of the rest.

Although the field for the Coventry Stakes wasn’t a strong one, it was evident from the manner of  his victory that he was an exceptional youngster, and it seemed inconceivable that Mill Reef could be beaten. But he was, and on his very next appearance, in the Prix Robert Papin. He lost by a very narrow margin to My Swallow, who was owned by David Robinson and trained in Britain by Paul Davey. My Swallow had won his first three starts, the Zetland Stakes at York, the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom and the Prix du Bois at Longchamp, where he’d won by four lengths, and he started favourite at 19/10 for the Robert Papin with the French-trained Tarbes also a shorter price than Mill Reef. In the race, only My Swallow and Mill Reef counted as the field raced into the last furlong. My Swallow had been in the lead from the start, but Mill Reef was cutting into his advantage at a rate that promised to get him to the post first. Lester Piggott, on My Swallow, however, got down to ride as only he could and his mount responded well to hold on.

My Swallow continued to race in and went on to complete a clean sweep of the four major two-year-old races in , the last three being the Prix Morny, the Prix de la Salamandre (in which the previously unbeaten Swing Easy, winner of the July Stakes and Richmond Stakes, was third) and the Grand Criterium (by half a length from Bonami, the pair five lengths clear). This feat was also accomplished by only Blushing Groom in 1976 and Arazi in 1991, the latter also scoring a stunning success in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The Prix de la Salamandre was discontinued in 2001 to make way for the Criterium International.

Mill Reef started favourite for all his remaining 11 races over the next two seasons, eight of them at odds-on, including in the Gimcrack Stakes at York. With the ground changing from good the previous day to heavy, there seemed a chance that Mill Reef wouldn’t be risked but his owner gave the go ahead. Mill Reef’s performance had to be seen to be believed. Never off the bit, he pulled his way to the front inside the last two furlongs and strode home ten lengths clear from Green God, who had been runner-up to Swing Easy in the Richmond Stakes the time before. Mill Reef’s performance, first class as it undoubtedly was, may not have been all that it seemed, however. Both the runner-up and the third, Grand Chaudiere, disappointed next time, Green God being beaten at 2/1-on, but Green God became a high-class sprinter the following year, winning the Vernons Sprint Cup.

Kempton’s Imperial Stakes was next up for Mill Reef, but he didn’t win it in the manner that his 9/2-on starting price suggested he would. He gave many anxious moments before overcoming the Cherry Hinton Stakes winner Hecla to win by a length, though he was going away strongly by the end. Mill Reef’s trainer Ian Balding blamed himself for not having Mill Reef sharpened up, having been easy on him since the Gimcrack, but it appeared that Mill Reef now needed a longer distance than six furlongs.

Mill Reef concluded his first season in the Dewhurst Stakes over seven furlongs at Newmarket, where he outclassed the Irish-trained pair Wenceslas (winner of his only previous race) and Lombardo (successful on his last two starts, including the Larkspur Stakes at Phoenix Park) in a three-runner race, leading over two furlongs out to beat them by four lengths and half a length.

Major races won

• Coventry Stakes, Royal Ascot
• Gimcrack Stakes, York
• Imperial Stakes, Kempton
• Dewhurst Stakes, Newmarket

Three-year-old season (1971)

The 2000 Guineas of 1971 between My Swallow, Brigadier Gerard and Mill Reef was one of the most eagerly awaited races for years.  Mill Reef, the only one of the three not unbeaten, started 6/4 favourite after he had been the most impressive of those to have had a trial - in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury, where he coasted away from the Champagne Stakes winner Breeders Dream and Swing Easy. My Swallow and Good Bond did all that had been asked of them in their trials, and the Middle Park Stakes winner Brigadier Gerard was the only one of the six runners who didn’t have a warm-up race.

At Newmarket, both Mill Reef and My Swallow were ridden as if each was the main danger to the other. When My Swallow set off in front, Mill Reef was very close to him, determined to prevent a repetition of the Prix Robert Papin. Mill Reef lasted the pace slightly better than My Swallow and wore him down inside the final furlong, but by then Brigadier Gerard had taken the lead. Despite edging left Brigadier Gerard strode away to win by three lengths, with Mill Reef finishing second, three-quarters of a length ahead of My Swallow. The Vincent O’Brien-trained Minsky – runner-up in the previous year’s Observer Gold Cup and successful in the Gladness Stakes and the Tetrarch Stakes prior to the Guineas – was a further five lengths back in fourth, flashing his tail. It was another 12 lengths back to the other two. Excuses could be found, but, in hindsight, it was Mill Reef’s best performance up to that time, and up against one of Brigadier Gerard’s outstanding quality Mill Reef was found out by an even better miler.

While Brigadier Gerard and My Swallow were kept to a mile or shorter until later in the year, Mill Reef was stepped up to a mile and a half in the Derby at Epsom for his next race, part of a programme that had been announced at the start of the season.  The main question concerning Mill Reef was whether or not he would get a mile and a half. His sire, relatively unknown at the time in Britain, disappointed on the only occasion his stamina was tested beyond a mile and a quarter, and Mill Reef was out of a mare who didn’t race after her two-year-old season, but there was a fair amount of stamina in her pedigree.

In the Derby, Mill Reef settled in about fifth or sixth place of the 21 runners. When the pace quickened at the start of the descent Mill Reef lost three or four places, but one push from his jockey Geoff Lewis (who rode him in all his races) was enough to send him up quickly on the outside, and he turned into the straight in fourth place behind Linden Tree, Lombardo and Homeric, still coasting while the other three were at full stretch. Mill Reef came through on the bridle and took up the running just over a furlong out, but had to be ridden to Linden Tree (who had won the Observer Gold Cup in 1970 and the Chester Vase on his latest outing). At the line Mill Reef had two lengths to spare over Linden Tree, with the French-trained Irish Ball two and a half lengths further back in third, with Lombardo fourth and Athens Wood fifth. Brigadier Gerard’s stable companion Homeric was seventh.

The Derby form was made to look sound just over three weeks later when Irish Ball beat Lombardo by three lengths in the Irish Derby (though Linden Tree virtually took no part after swerving violently to the left shortly after coming out of the stalls, and never ran again).

In of ratings, Mill Reef stepped up again in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown. Caro had shown high-class form the previous year, placed in both the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (awarded the race on the demotion of Faraway Son) and the Prix du Jockey Club, but had improved in 1971, winning all three of his races, the Prix d’Harcourt, the Prix Ganay and the Prix Dollar (then held at the end of May, by five lengths) and he was widely regarded as the best horse in Europe at around a mile and a quarter. That there could have been a horse in the world as much as four lengths his superior seemed inconceivable at the time, but Mill Reef was the one and the pair had the race to themselves from over two furlongs out after Mill Reef’s pacemaker, Bright Beam, had a set a furious pace (Caro also had a pacemaker in Quebracho but he couldn’t get into the lead). After Caro made his effort, it soon became apparent that Mill Reef had his measure and he drew away, breaking the course record in the process. Welsh Pageant, winner of the Lockinge Stakes, the Queen Anne Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes the previous year, and of the Lockinge Stakes again in May, was third.

Of Mill Reef’s nine rivals in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, only Irish Ball at 9/2 started shorter than 11/1, with Mill Reef at 13/8-on. The former Italian-trained Ortis had won the Hardwicke Stakes on heavy ground at the Royal meeting by eight lengths, but on good to firm going he proved no match for Mill Reef, who moved smoothly to the front before drawing further and further ahead in the final furlong, winning by six lengths. Irish Ball was well held in fifth.

Coming on top of a scintillating performance in the Eclipse, Mill Reef’s display in the King George established him as the outstanding middle-distance horse in Europe. None of his contemporaries in had achieved so much, not even Rheffic, winner of the Prix du Jockey Club and the Grand Prix de Paris. No chances were taken with Mill Reef after the King George and he didn’t race again until the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October. Not all the leading French horses ran in the Arc – Rheffic had been retired by the time the race had been run and Mill Reef started at 10-7-on, with the Prix de Diane and Prix Vermeille winner Pistol Packer second favourite (coupled with her stable companion Bourbon, who had been only 13th in the Epsom Derby but had won the Prix Royal-Oak on his most recent outing).

In the race, Mill Reef was briefly boxed in as the field approached the straight, but he was switched back inside before taking over the lead two furlongs out. Quickening in great style, Mill Reef withstood a determined challenge from Pistol Packer and galloped on to win in another course record by three lengths – the first horse to beat Pistol Packer in six races. Caro just lost third place on the line to Cambrizzia, who had been runner-up to Pistol Packer on three previous occasions.

Major races won

• Greenham Stakes, Newbury  
• Derby Stakes, Epsom
• Eclipse Stakes, Sandown
• King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Ascot
• Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Longchamp

Four-year-old season (1972)

With both Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard staying in training in 1972 a rematch between the pair was widely anticipated. Whereas My Swallow had been retired to stud after two more defeats following the Guineas, including in the July Cup, Brigadier Gerard had extended his unbeaten record to ten, winning five more times. There was no doubt Brigadier Gerard was the better at a mile and that Mill Reef would have been the better at a mile and a half. Any meeting would almost certainly have been over a mile and a quarter, though Brigadier Gerard would needed to have improved on the form of his only attempt at the trip, in the Champion Stakes in 1971, when he scrambled home on heavy going by a short head from Rarity. There was no doubt that was a well-below-form performance - Brigadier Gerard had been on the go since early in the year and could well have been past his best by that time.

One of Brigadier Gerard’s objectives in 1972 was the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, so a clash there between the pair could have been on the cards. However, there was only two weeks between the Eclipse and one of Mill Reef’s targets, the King George - would Mill Reef be risked in both? As it turned out, Mill Reef missed both races, while Brigadier Gerard won both.

Mill Reef’s first race as a four-year-old was the Prix Ganay at Longchamp at the end of April. With Pistol Packer injured after her reappearance, it was the five-year-olds that presented what little threat there was to Mill Reef. Mister Sic Top had finished second to Pistol Packer in the Prix d’Harcourt and started second favourite at 12/1, with Mill Reef and his pacemaker Merry Slipper coupled at 10/1-on. Mill Reef breezed into the lead on the home turn and ran away with the race, winning by ten lengths, a distance that could have been extended had his jockey wished. However, holes could have been picked in the form. Runner-up Amadou, who had been beaten three-quarters of a length by Caro in the race 12 months earlier, ran seven more times in 1972 but won only once, in minor company in November, while the third, El Toro, was no more than a smart performer, whose only success of the year was gained in a handicap at Longchamp the time before.  

The Coronation Cup at Epsom attracted only four runners, one of them Mill Reef’s pacemaker, Bright Beam. The others were Homeric and Wenceslas, runners-up respectively in the English and Irish St Leger. Mill Reef started at 15/2-on. After Bright Beam had set a strong pace, Homeric was ridden clear early in the straight but when Mill Reef drew alongside it seemed that he would go on to win easily. However, Homeric kept on extremely well and Mill Reef got home by only a neck, the pair drawing well clear of the others. Balding said that in the appalling weather in the weeks beforehand Mill Reef had missed a couple of important gallops and was not at peak fitness. However, this performance was made to look better much later in the year when Homeric led the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe field two furlongs out but faded away to finish third to San San, beaten two lengths by the winner despite finishing very lame, his jockey reporting that Homeric "went" about a furlong out.

Misfortune overtook Mill Reef and he didn’t race again. He was withdrawn from the Eclipse ten days before the race, his trainer announcing that he felt Mill Reef was "not quite himself" and it would be unfair to go on working him. It was thought Mill Reef had contracted a viral infection that was affecting most of the horses in the yard at the time.

Hopes of a meeting between Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard were raised again when, after a month’s rest, Mill Reef was put back into full training and reportedly worked with all his old zest. Balding had little over a fortnight to prepare Mill Reef for a clash with Brigadier Gerard in the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup at York. That was barely enough time, and when Mill Reef developed a swollen hock ‘the race of the century’ had to be called off again. Plans for Mill Reef were revised and it was announced that he would run in the Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot in September before being sent to contest the Arc. Presumably in the hope that Brigadier Gerard’s connections would be tempted to send him to take on Mill Reef, the Ascot executive shortened the distance of the Cumberland Lodge from a mile and a half to a mile and a quarter. However, during a strong canter at home on 30^th August Mill Reef fractured his near foreleg. Only two days earlier, his owner had announced that Mill Reef was to be kept in training as a five-year-old.

Mill Reef’s injury was examined by three of the top names in veterinary surgery. The fracture was a complicated one. The team worked for seven hours to insert a specially-modified stainless-steel compression plate held by three screws to pin the broken pieces to the cannon bone. After six weeks the plaster cast was removed and Mill Reef’s leg was put in a felt for another fortnight.

Major races won

• Prix Ganay, Longchamp
• Coronation Cup, Epsom

Mill Reef at stud

He was retired to stand at the National Stud and in his first season he covered just 23 mares. However, he was champion sire in 1978 and 1987 when he was responsible for the Derby winners Doyoun. Mill Reef died in 1986 due to a deteriorating heart condition.

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