Mill Reef

Mill Reef
This statue of Mill Reef stands in the center of Rokeby Stables in Upperville, Virginia
Sire	Never Bend
Grandsire	Nasrullah
Dam	Milan Mill
Damsire	Princequillo
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1968
Country	United States
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Paul Mellon
Owner	Paul Mellon Colours: Black, gold cross and stripe on cap.
Trainer	Ian Balding
Record	14:12-2-0
Earnings	£309,225
Major wins
Coventry Stakes (1970) Gimcrack Stakes (1970) Dewhurst Stakes (1970) Greenham Stakes (1971) Epsom Derby (1971) Eclipse Stakes (1971) K. George VI & Q. Elizabeth Stakes (1971) Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (1971) Prix Ganay (1972) Coronation Cup (1972)
Awards
English 3-Yr-Old Champion Colt (1971) European Horse of the Year (1971) English Champion Older Horse (1972) Timeform rating: 141 Leading sire in GB & Ireland (1978, 1987)
Honours
#4 - 20th Century's Top 100 European Racehorses Life-size statue at The National Stud, Newmarket Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury Racecourse
Last updated on 9 June 2009

Mill Reef (1968–1986) was a Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was bred in the United States but was trained in the United Kingdom throughout his racing career which lasted from 1970 to 1972. Mill Reef won twelve of his fourteen races and finished second in the other two. He was an outstanding two-year-old in 1970, and proved even better at three, winning the Epsom Derby, the Eclipse Stakes, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He won both his starts as a four-year-old before his career was ended by injury.

He was an exact contemporary of another British-trained champion, the English-bred Brigadier Gerard who defeated him in their only racecourse meeting in the 2000 Guineas. As the race was over Brigadier Gerard's optimum distance of one mile, the relative merits of the two colts continued to be the subject of debate.

Mill Reef was bred in the United States of America at the Rokeby Stables in Virginia of his owner and breeder the philanthropist Paul Mellon. He was a son of Never Bend out of the mare Milan Mill by Princequillo. As a yearling it was thought that his action better suited him to a career on the turf courses in Europe rather than the dirt tracks in America and so he was sent to England in December 1969 to be trained by Paul Mellon's young English trainer Ian Balding at Kingsclere. He was ridden by Geoff Lewis in all his fourteen races. Mellon named the horse after the Mill Reef Club, which is situated on the island of Antigua in the West Indies. The Mellon family has maintained a home at Mill Reef since its founding in 1947.