Ian Balding

Although he retired from the training ranks in 2002, Ian Balding remains a famous and influential figure in British horse racing. Of course, his son Andrew, who took over the licence at the historic Park House Stables in Kingsclere, Hampshire in January 2003, is a leading, Classic-winning trainer in his own right and his daughter Clare is a former leading amateur jockey and, more recently, a respected journalist and broadcaster.

Born in New Jersey, USA in 1938, Balding Snr. was, himself, a Corinthian amateur rider before turning his hand to training, aged just 26, in 1964. Over the next four decades, he enjoyed a succession of high-profile victories, courtesy of the likes Mrs. Penny, Glint Of Gold and Lochsong, to name but three. However, Ian Balding will always be best remembered as the trainer of Mill Reef, who remains the eighth highest-rated horse in the history of Timeform.

Beaten favourite in the 2,000 Guineas, goimg down by three lengths to none other than Brigadier Gerard, Mill Reef came into his own over middle distances. In a memorable three-year-old campaign, in 1971, he won the Derby, the Eclipse Stakes, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Not altogether surprisingly, his exploits contributed to Balding winning the Flat Trainers’ Championship for the one and only time.