Bred and owned by American philanthropist Paul Mellon, with whose famous black-and-yellow silks he became synonymous, Mill Reef was one of the best middle-distance performers in the second half of the twentieth century. Hailed by his trainer, Ian Balding, as ‘the best horse that I have ever seen’, his Timeform annual rating of 141 remains the seventh highest since ratings first appeared in ‘Racehorses of 1947’.

Foaled on February 23, 1968, at Rokeby Stables, Virginia and named after the exclusive Mill Reef Club on Antigua, of which Mellon was an early member, Mill Reef won five of his six starts as a juvenile, including the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot by eight lengths and the Gimcrack Stakes at York by ten. The sole defeat of his two-year-old campaign came, by just a short head, at the hands of My Swallow, who remained undefeated in seven races as a juvenile, in the Prix Robert Papin at Maisons-Lafitte.

The following season, Mill Reef started 6/4 favourite for a vintage renewal of the 2,000 Guineas, which also featured My Swallow and Brigadier Gerard, but was comprehensively beaten by the latter. However, stepped up in distance, Mill Reef went on to win the Derby, Eclipse Stakes, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Mill Reef won both starts as a four-year-old, the Prix Ganay at Longchamp and Coronation Cup at Epsom, but subsequently suffered a career-ending complex fracture of his left foreleg during a routine piece of work on the gallops at Kingsclere. A lengthy, painstaking operation was required to repair the shattered bone and although Mill Reef was successfully nursed back to health he was retired to the National Stud in Newmarket.

An impressive showing by Mill Reef in the 1971 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Sta

Bred and owned by Jean Terynck and trained by Etienne Pollet in Chantilly, France, Sea-Bird, also known as ‘Sea Bird II’, has the distinction of being the second-highest rated Flat horse of the Tiemform era, behind only Frankel. He is widely regarded as the best European racehorse of the twentieth century and, while he raced in Britain just once, such was the breathtaking ease with which he won the Derby at Epsom that he was voted British Horse of the Year in 1965.

Sea-Bird suffered the one and only defeat of his eight-race career when beaten by better-fancied stable companion Grey Dawn in the Grand Critérium, now the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère, at Longchamp as a two-year-old. However, as a three-year-old he won the Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud and the Prix Lupin at Longchamp with any amount in hand en route to Epsom.

Sent off 7/4 favourite for the Derby, Sea-Bird beat twenty-one rivals – the pick of which proved to be subsequent Irish Derby winner Meadow Court – by two lengths, eased down, with jockey Pat Glennon sitting motionless in the closing stages. A further facile success in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud followed, but Sea-Bird was not seen again in public until the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October, which was his final racecourse appearance.

Despite his absence and facing a field that included his old rival Meadow Court and Prix du Jockey Club winner Reliance, hitherto unbeaten, to name but two, Sea-Bird started 6/5 favourite and hardly gave his supporters an anxious moment. True, he did swerve right across the track in the closing stages, but was well clear of his nearest pursuer, Reliance, when he did so and passed the post six lengths ahead.

Sea-Bird – World Champion Racehorse (1965)