Mill Reef Stakes 2016: The Heart of the matter

The owner of the Gimcrack Stakes winner at York’s Ebor Festival is traditionally invited to deliver a speech at a dinner of the same name at the track in December and, following Mill Reef’s remarkable 10-length victory in the 1970 renewal, it was the turn of American philanthropist Paul Mellon to do the honours.

Speaking in the final month of his exciting colt’s juvenile year, he recited a sonnet which concluded with the verse:

“Swift as a bird I flew down many a course.

Princes, Lords, Commoners all sang my praise.

In victory or defeat I played my part.

Remember me, all men who love the Horse,

If hearts and spirits flag in after days;

Though small, I gave my all. I gave my heart.”

Mellon clearly knew he possessed a horse of exceptional talent at that relatively early stage of his career - Timeform's Racehorses of 1971 identified his Gimcrack victory as "by far the most impressive display by a two-year-old all that year" and "a performance that had to be seen to be believed" - and Mill Reef would go on to 'play his part' in some of the world’s biggest Flat prizes as a three-year-old in 1971.

He suffered his only defeat that year in arguably the greatest renewal of the 2000 Guineas ever staged at Newmarket, with Brigadier Gerard finishing strongest out of the dip and quickly pulling three lengths clear of Mill Reef, with My Swallow - the only horse to have beaten Mill Reef as a two-year-old - a further three-quarters of a length back in third. As Racehorses of 1971 reported:

"Excuses were made for Mill Reef: he wasn't quite right or he wasn't ridden with enough restraint. In the light of his performance in the Greenham it is hard to see how he could fail for want of physical fitness; and while we accept that he might have been nearer to the winner had he not taken on My Swallow for so much of the journey, we cannot hold any other view than that the best horse won."

Nevertheless, there was no disgrace in finishing second behind a horse that would go on to win 12 of his 13 subsequent starts, and Mill Reef himself would go on to sweep all before him when stepped up to middle-distances.

He proved his effectiveness over a mile and a half with a comfortable success in the Derby at Epsom; trounced the previous season's French Derby-third, Caro, in the Eclipse at Sandown; established himself as the leading middle-distance horse in Europe when landing the King George at Ascot; and broke the course record when signing off for the year with a defeat of the leading French filly, Pistol Packer, in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp.

A Timeform rating of 141 saw Mill Reef crowned the joint-highest-rated horse of the year and, having returned to action as a four-year-old with victories in the Prix Ganay at Longchamp and Coronation Cup at Epsom, a second highly-anticipated clash with Brigadier Gerard was scheduled for the Eclipse.

However, the rematch had to be postponed after Mill Reef was found to be suffering from a virus in the weeks leading up to the race and - while Paul Mellon had spoken of hearts and spirits flagging in his Gimcrack speech - it was ultimately the leg of Mill Reef that was the first to give; shattering his near-fore while being prepared for a second crack at the Arc and promptly retired to the National Stud.

Mill Reef saw out the rest of his days in Newmarket and proved to be a hugely successful stallion, with Derby winners Shirley Heights and Reference Point among his best progeny. There is a statue in his honour at the National Stud, which bears the tribute so eloquently given by his owner at the aforementioned Gimcrack dinner in 1970, and he currently resides at #8 on the list of Timeform's top-rated Flat horses.

Mill Reef was also bestowed with the honour of having a race named after him and Saturday's Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury will be the 45th renewal of the race to be run under its current guise. The six-furlong prize is for two-year-olds and acts as a valuable stepping stone to the following month's Group 1 Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket, with five horses having completed the double since the first Mill Reef in 1972. 

Dark Angel (2007) is arguably the most familiar name on that list from recent years, although he was quickly packed off to stud having shown such precocious speed in a productive first season; a decision which has quickly paid dividends, with members of his first few crops including Lethal Force and Mecca's Angel.

The Mill Reef does also boast a fair record of producing classic candidates for the following year, though, with Mon Fils landing the very first renewal of the race, before providing trainer Richard Hannon Snr with a first classic winner in the 2000 Guineas.

Meanwhile, Forest Flower was a poignant winner of the race for Ian Balding and Paul Mellon in 1986 and was rated the best of a strong group of two-year-old fillies by Timeform, ahead of dual Group 1 winner and legend of the turf, Miesque. Forest Flower would go on to win the following year's Irish 1000 Guineas at the Curragh and has to be considered one of the best winners of the Mill Reef to date, although 2015 winner Ribchester has the potential to challenge in that respect.

Ribchester shed his maiden tag when defeating Log Out Island by a length and a quarter 12 months ago and - third behind Galileo Gold in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in April - made his breakthrough at the top level when landing the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville last month. He also heads the market for the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Champions Day at Ascot.

Whether the winner of Saturday's renewal will ever scale such heights is open to debate, but the race currently has a worthy favourite in the shape of Mokarris, who very nearly emulated Mill Reef when finishing second in the Gimcrack at York just four weeks ago.

Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum may have missed the opportunity to emulate Paul Mellon and give a speech at the Gimcrack dinner this time around - a responsibility which will instead lie with his brother, Sheikh Mohammed, owner of this year's York winner Blue Point - but Mokarris appears to have a class edge over his rivals this weekend and should be up to taking the £75,000 contest named after the diminutive champion who 'gave his heart' in a memorable career.