Tributes have been made to the former British champion trainer Ian Balding who has died aged 87.
The English man famously trained the legendary champion Mill Reef, the horse that catapulted him to fame in 1971 when the Epsom Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe were among his big-race triumphs.
Balding’s almost 40-year career as a trainer also saw him secure Irish classic glory in 1987 when Forest Flower landed the 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh.
Mill Reef and Forest Flower were among the many top performers that Balding trained for the US industrialist Paul Mellon. But his list of top horses also included the champion sprinter Lochsong and top miler Selkirk. He retired in 2002 when he handed over to his son Andrew.
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Balding was an accomplished amateur jockey in his youth and landed the 1963 National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham festival on Time. He later trained Crystal Spirit to win the Sun Alliance Hurdle at Cheltenham in 1991.
His daughter, broadcaster Clare Balding, said on Friday: “My Dad was one of a kind. Fearless, funny and charming, he was an all-round sportsman, a great trainer and a beautiful horseman.”
Mill Reef most famously advertised that skill. This diminutive colt followed up an outstanding juvenile career by dominating Europe’s top middle-distance events as a three-year-old and becoming one of the outstanding talents of the last century.
Mill Reef raced on as a four-year-old, but his racing career ended when he broke his leg in a training gallop. Remarkably, he was saved to begin a hugely successful stallion career.
Balding was also a renowned tutor of jockeys and the Derby-winning rider Martin Dwyer said: “He helped a lot of people along and helped them in their careers. I’m eternally grateful to have been included in that.
“He took me in as a snotty-nosed kid from Liverpool and shaped me into who I am today. I was a bit rough around the edges when I first came, but he taught me a lot about riding, about racing and about life in general.
“I was only 16 when I first went there; he was just a great man who was loved and respected by many.”
Balding’s brother Toby, one of an elite group to train the winners of the Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Grand National, died in 2014.
Jimmy Frost rode for both men, including when Crystal Spirit won at Cheltenham, a day after guiding Toby Balding’s Morley Street to Champion Hurdle glory.
“I was very privileged to be a part of the jumping team there for a while, he gave me some great horses to ride,” said Frost. “Toby and Ian, what an amazing pair of brothers, and what the Balding family did for me made my life.”
In other news, champion jockey Paul Townend is set to return to action at Cork on Saturday if the track passes an 8am inspection.
Townend hurt a rib in a fall at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve and was stood down. He missed out on riding at Tramore a day later but is pencilled in for a handful of weekend rides.
They include The Reverend, who is due to begin his career over jumps in Cork’s opener. A winner on the flat off a mark of 98 at Haydock in his last start in September, The Reverend is equipped with a first-time hood. Townend is also on Fillyoureye in a later three-mile maiden hurdle.
The top yards are represented in Cork’s bumper, but the locally trained Kilbarry Alexy could successfully transition from hurdles after a good run at Naas last month.
