Mill Reef was born the year before me and though I wasn't precocious enough to have enjoyed his racing career live, for some reason, since I started taking a serious interest in racing, he has long been one of my favourite horses. I think a lot of it has to do with Mellon himself. 

Can you imagine a modern-day Gimcrack-winning owner writing a poem about his horse, as Mellon did for Mill Reef in 1970? That year was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the horse's success. Six Group 1 wins would follow at three and four, including victory in the two most important races of all: the Derby and the Arc. 

I was thinking of Mill Reef the other morning as I always do on visits to the National Stud. His name plaque is still visible, and the stallion yard is made extra special for having his statue there en route to the paddocks. Its plinth bears plenty of clues as to the kind of man Paul Mellon was. One side states the horse's breeding and achievements and, in a particularly nice touch, credits John Hallum, who looked after Mill Reef when the horse was in training with Ian Balding at Kingsclere, and George Roth, who did the same during his stallion career. Again, I wonder how many other owners would have thought to acknowledge the key people in the horse's life in so permanent a manner. On the other side of the plinth is Mellon's poem from his Gimcrack speech:

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's legacy to racing has more substance than this delightful whimsy. American by birth, the confirmed Anglophile was a significant benefactor to the British Racing School and Royal Veterinary College and, pleasingly, his English racing colours live on through the Kingsclere Racing Club thanks to him having bequeathed them to Ian Balding. So too does the story of Mill Reef through Lord Oaksey's wonderful book and the Albert Finney-narrated film Something to Brighten the Morning. 

Racing and breeding have changed, in some ways for the better, in some ways not. While interviewing Peter Kavanagh of Kildaragh Stud recently this was brought to mind again, as he rued the demise of the owner-breeder. 

Things are different now, and people breed horses differently, too, with much more of a commercial imperative. This is not a bad thing per se, but one can't help but wonder if we are losing some of that pure love for the horse – call it sentimentality if you like – as well as a proper understanding of the traits of families in the process. 

A treasured possession in our house is a collection of four leather-bound scrapbooks compiled by Sir Victor Sassoon and detailing every mention of his Guineas and Derby winner Crepello in newsprint. For obvious reasons, scrapbooking is a dying art, except at Heath House, where, during Christmas week, Sir Mark Prescott will have faithfully consigned his favourite clippings of the year to a new book.

So much is lost, too, in our digital life, as convenient and environmentally friendly though it undoubtedly is. Sure, we can look up most things online (and of course TDN has a handy daily archive stretching back years) to see the results and ratings, and watch the replays over and over. But there is something rather thrilling about being able to read in yellowing, faded newspaper clippings just what Peter Willett or Roger Mortimer or John Hislop or Dare Wigan thought of Crepello at the time, all adding their own informed takes on his pedigree. All that would have been lost to this reader without those scrapbooks.

Hislop, later the owner-breeder of Mill Reef's nemesis Brigadier Gerard, said in the Sporting Life of June 11, 1957, “At no time has our bloodstock been in greater need of a boost, and Crepello's pedigree holds out every hope of his proving a classic sire in the old tradition.” Maybe things haven't changed that much at all.

The two best horses we saw on the racecourse in 2023 are now both safely ensconced in stallion barns: Equinox (Jpn) at Shadai Stallion Station and Ace Impact (Ire) at Haras de Beaumont. We've heard plenty of late about how Japan is running rings around the rest of the breeding world when it comes to producing top horses, but another way in which the country is a global leader for the sport is in its fan engagement.

When speaking to Japanese journalist and broadcaster Naohiro Goda at Tattersalls just after Equinox's retirement from racing had been announced, he mentioned a JRA-planned retirement ceremony, which took place the week before Christmas at Nakayama. “The fans will expect to be able to say goodbye,” he said. Quite right too. 

Let's copy this idea. After all, we had one for Frankie Dettori on Champions' Day and he isn't even retiring. One or two such ceremonies for the truly special horses would be a great way to show our appreciation. Because really, all the sales, the politics, the raceday concerts are just sideshows. Horses in full flight are what draw us all in, whether we are punters, racegoers, breeders, owners, trainers or jockeys: they are the one thing we all have in common.

Though we have this unifying element, even better is that we all love different horses for different reasons, and it's not just the great ones. That, too, when we are breeding Thoroughbreds in their thousands, is an important message that should not go unheard.

Every Christmas we receive a card from a lady who owns one of the former residents of our yard. He's 22 now and he wasn't much cop as a racehorse but he has brought years of fun to his rider on the hunting field in Devon. He's one of many now well into their twenties and proving hugely useful in different spheres.

From a personal perspective, one of the only occasions to have brought proper joy following the death of my father in February was our horse Dereham winning at Newmarket for the second season in a row. It was an inconsequential race in the grand scheme, but to win at our home track with a homebred was special. I don't think the Jockey Club will be planning a retirement ceremony for him, but I might start to lobby for one if he wins that same race for a third time in 2024.

Dereham is plainly no Mill Reef, but he is small, he gives his all and, as horses do for so many of us who love this sport, he has kept me going when spirits have flagged. 

The cyclical nature of racing is such that, no sooner have we rued the retirements than we are looking forward to the next big thing. I am hoping that Big Rock and Auguste Rodin continue to be big things and, as every year, continue to hope for a Triple Crown winner. So come on City Of Troy, let's be having you.

Before that, however, I would like to thank you for reading TDN and wish you a happy, successful and peaceful new year.

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The event is free to attend and open to the public, but advance registration will be required. Beverages and light fare will be available. To register, click here.

Mill Reef: A Legacy of Heart chronicles the legendary racehorse Mill Reef, who was named English and European Horse of the Year in 1971 when he won the Epsom Derby, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Eclipse S., and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S., among others. Mill Reef was bred in Virginia by Hall of Fame Pillar of the Turf Paul Mellon and campaigned by Mellon's Rokeby Stables in Europe from 1970 through 1972. Overall, Mill Reef won 12 of 14 starts. He was trained by Ian Balding.

For more information, visit www.racingmuseum.org.

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First job in the Thoroughbred industry?

Interning at a reproduction centre at Peterson & Smith down in Florida.

Biggest influence on your career?

My parents. Neither are in the industry, but they gave me a good foundation and the right mind set to succeed.

Favourite racehorse of all time, and why?

Tiznow. He's still the only dual winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Classic.

Who will be champion first-season sire in 2023?

Land Force.

Greatest race in the world?

G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Most of the top middle-distance international form lines intersect at ParisLongchamp.

If you could be someone else in the industry for a day who would it be, and why?

Ryan Moore. He's one of the best jockeys in the world and has a fair poker face, win, lose, or draw.

Emerging talent in the industry (human)?

Seina Imamura. She now has 50 Japan Racing Association winners to her credit, and is only the fifth Japanese jockey to accomplish that feat in her rookie year.

Horse TDN should have made a Rising Star, and didn't?

From a few years back, Tis Marvellous.

Under-the-radar stallion?

Dream Ahead, even though he's sired several winners at the highest level.

Friday night treat?

A pint of gelato and a good book.

Guilty pleasure outside racing?

I'm a big fan of The Great British Baking Show, and enjoy baking.

Race I wish I had been there for…

It was before my time, but Mill Reef's victory in the 1971 Arc. He was such a cool, little horse.

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Launched to mark the 10th anniversary of QIPCO's sponsorship of the British Champions Series, the first official Hall of Fame for British Flat racing sets out to immortalize the Modern Greats of the sport, both human and equine, from 1970 onwards.

On the basis of their undisputed status and achievements within the sport, the quartet will join inaugural inductees Frankel and Lester Piggott in the Hall of Fame, with O'Brien becoming the first trainer to gain membership.

Broadcaster Brough Scott, who undertook his first broadcast for ITV Racing in 1971, the year in which Brigadier Gerard completed his incredible unbeaten 3-year-old season, was part of the independent panel of horseracing experts who agreed on the inductees.

He said: “No racing decade ever had a start like the 1970s. Nijinsky, Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard – three horses of the century only a year apart. No Derby winner more majestic than Nijinsky, no Arc winner more of a mould-breaker than Mill Reef, no miler more complete than Brigadier Gerard.

“Irish genius Vincent O'Brien added to the magic of that era, setting a standard most could only dream of matching. He changed the racing and training landscape, and his legacy lives on at Ballydoyle and Coolmore – which remain two of the world's greatest racing operations to this day.

“They individually and collectively deserve these places within the Hall of Fame and the panel and I offer our heartfelt congratulations to their connections.”

Trainer O'Brien, who registered a total of 141 Group One wins, with 67 in the UK, died 12 years ago but his influence on the sport will go on forevermore. As well as training six Derby winners and a host of other British Classics, he also landed three consecutive Grand Nationals in the 1950s, making him one of few trainers to succeed in both disciplines at the highest level. He also created the superb training facilities at Ballydoyle and played a pivotal role in the development of Coolmore Stud – two of Ireland's, if not the world's, most illustrious racing operations. Tellingly, the winning machine that Vincent O'Brien helped create and develop continues to flourish to this day.

Brigadier Gerard, Mill Reef and Nijinsky – the last-named trained by O'Brien – all lit up the sport during the early 1970s. Between the three, they won an incredible 40 of their 45 races.

The mighty Brigadier Gerard, ridden by the late Joe Mercer, won 17 of his 18 races and is remembered as one of the greatest milers there has been, although he also shone over further. His record in 1971 was phenomenal, winning all six of his races, and his final resumé contained a British Classic in the 2000 Guineas, two Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and two Champion Stakes victories.

The Ian Balding-trained Mill Reef had to play second fiddle to Brigadier Gerard in the 2000 Guineas of 1971 but, upped in distance, he would never be beaten again. His exploits included outstanding victories in the Derby and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Meanwhile, the majestic Nijinsky, ridden by inaugural Hall of Famer Lester Piggott, made history in 1970 by scooping the Triple Crown. No horse has since achieved this milestone of winning the 2000 Guineas, Derby and St Leger in the same year. Nijinsky went on to become a hugely successful stallion and, to this day, remains the only sire to have a winner of the Derby (Epsom) and the Kentucky Derby in the same year.

Connections of these four stars will receive a specially commissioned medal, designed by Asprey and unique within British racing, to mark their achievement. The four medals will be displayed at Doncaster's Cazoo St Leger day (Saturday 11th September) as part of a QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame exhibition. The exhibition can be found within the racecourse's grandstand in the Grandstand Enclosure.

Achieving a place in the Hall of Fame has become one of the highest accolades within British Flat racing, reflecting extraordinary achievements and contributions to the sport. Launched to mark the start of this year's QIPCO British Champions Series, a number of additional inductions will be announced in the build-up to QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot (Saturday Oct. 16), including one horse chosen by the public (vote here) which is open until Sept. 24.

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Marking the 10th anniversary of QIPCO's sponsorship of the British Champions Series, the Hall of Fame was launched in May with the inaugural inductees Lester Piggott and Frankel (GB).

During an illustrious career, O'Brien notched 141 Group 1 wins, with 67 of those coming in the UK, including six Derby winners. Prior to that his extraordinary success in the National Hunt field included training three consecutive winners of the Grand National. Moreover, he played a hugely significant role in the development of Coolmore Stud in partnership with his son-in-law John Magnier and Robert Sangster. O'Brien's particular liking of the stock of Northern Dancer led to some of Ballydoyle's and Coolmore's leading lights, including his fellow inductee and Triple Crown winner Nijinsky, and the Sangster-bred supersire Sadler's Wells.

“No racing decade ever had a start like the 1970s. Nijinsky, Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard–three horses of the century only a year apart. No Derby winner more majestic than Nijinsky, no Arc winner more of a mould-breaker than Mill Reef, no miler more complete than Brigadier Gerard,” said Hall of Fame panellist and broadcaster Brough Scott.

“Irish genius Vincent O'Brien added to the magic of that era, setting a standard most could only dream of matching. He changed the racing and training landscape, and his legacy lives on at Ballydoyle and Coolmore–which remain two of the world's greatest racing operations to this day. 

“They individually and collectively deserve these places within the Hall of Fame and the panel and I offer our heartfelt congratulations to their connections.” 

Vincent O'Brien's son Charles said, “The QIPCO British Champion Series Hall of Fame is a wonderful initiative and, on behalf of the O'Brien family, we are absolutely delighted that Vincent O'Brien is the first trainer to be inducted. His achievements, both in the National Hunt and Flat spheres, are unparalleled and highly unlikely to ever be matched. Additionally, his creation of Ballydoyle as a training centre and his involvement in the early days of Coolmore Stud will ensure that his legacy will live on. We would like to thank QIPCO and the judging panel for helping to ensure that this is the case.”

Nijinsky, whose name is intertwined with both O'Brien and Lester Piggott, claimed the Triple Crown in 1970, a feat that has not been repeated in the intervening years. From a hugely successful stallion career, he remains the only sire to have had a winner of the Derby and the Kentucky Derby in the same year, in Shahrastani and Ferdinand.

Brigadier Gerard, bred in Britain by his owners John and Jean Hislop, was ridden by Joe Mercer to win 17 of his 18 races, including the 2000 Guineas, two Queen Elizabeth II S., and two Champion S.

Mill Reef, trained by Ian Balding, was runner-up to Brigadier Gerard in the 2000 Guineas of 1971 but was never beaten again in subsequent starts, including in the Derby and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Fifty years on from Mill Reef's magnificent 3-year-old season, his trainer's son Andrew Balding is currently leading the trainers' championship in Britain. 

Connections of the four inductees will receive a specially commissioned medal which will be displayed at Doncaster on Cazoo St Leger day (Saturday) as part of a QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame exhibition. The exhibition can be found within the racecourse's grandstand in the Grandstand Enclosure. 

A number of additional inductions will be announced in the build-up to QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday, Oct. 16. These include one horse chosen by the public, who can vote here until Sept. 24.

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Second in the 2000 Guineas, the diminutive Paul Mellon homebred with the big heart would go on to win the Derby and break the course record at Epsom Downs. In the 1971 King George, the Ian Balding trainee drew off to win by six lengths. His regular jockey, Geoff Lewis, stated at the time, “Daylight was second.” Retired at four after a career-ending injury, Mill Reef stood at The National Stud and sired 63 black-type winners throughout his successful stud career.

“Obviously it's a huge honour to be remembering Mill Reef; he's a horse who meant a huge amount to myself and my family,” said Andrew Balding, son of trainer Ian Balding. “Trained by my father 50 years ago, he was an exceptional 2-year-old and a fabulous racehorse who achieved so much both on the racecourse and at stud. He set up a huge influence on many people's lives with his progeny. He truly is one of the greats of the turf and is very fondly remembered by all at Kingsclere.”

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It was from that mile-and-a-half contest that the ‘Arc’ as we know it now came to be. In 1920, with the people of Europe turning back to the great irrelevances that the devastation of the First World War had temporarily shelved, the Societe initiated the perfect weight-for-age examination. The first Sunday in October was picked as the date and the title decided after a debate to honour the allied forces’ 1919 march beneath the capital’s Arc de Triomphe. With 150,000 French francs to the winner, the inaugural running saw Comrade, a British-bred colt trained by the Brit Peter Gilpin at Newmarket’s Clarehaven Stables, take the spoils in the colours of Haras de Saint Pair du Mont lynchpin Count Evremond de Saint-Alary. Gilpin, who was the handler of the immortal Pretty Polly, also held a share in the 3-year-old with Count Evremond, who had reached prominence as the owner of the famed Omnium II.

Unfortunately, the formative years of the race were framed by the unresolved crisis beyond the Treaty of Versailles and lasted less than two decades in peacetime. The 1939 version had been due to be run a month after the outbreak of an even deadlier confrontation which would ravage the globe. In those 19 years that the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe took root, there were three dual winners in Ksar (Fr), Motrico (Fr) and Corrida (Fr), and only five others have subsequently matched that feat. Ksar, who emerged victorious in 1921 and 1922, was bred by Count Evremond, but raced for the widow of the recently-deceased Edmond Blanc, the founder of Saint-Cloud racecourse. Motrico had been retired after his first success in 1930, but after failing at stud was able to revisit the hallowed winner’s enclosure two years later under one of the Arc’s genuine icons Charles Semblat. He was the race’s leading jockey with three wins from 1927-1932 before launching his training career.

In 1925, there was the first of three disqualifications in the race’s history as Cadum (Fr) was rightly demoted from first to second and the race awarded to Priori (Fr) who had been stopped in his tracks by the cynical manoeuvre of the former’s rider. In 1926 Biribi (Fr) was one of the race’s most impressive early winners before siring the luminary Le Pacha (Fr) who emulated his achievement in the 1941 edition. In between, the 1934 edition was and still remains one of the finest vintage. Edouard de Rothschild’s esteemed racing operation enjoyed its first taste of glory in the contest via Brantome (Fr), a real star of his era as an unbeaten juvenile and 3-year-old whose achievements included the French Triple Crown of Poule d’Essai des Poulains, Prix Lupin and Prix Royal-Oak. So revered in his home nation, he was the subject of a short film, entitled “Brantome: Invincible Horse” which was viewed by cinema-goers in the mid-30s, and upon his demise newspaper headlines announced that “Brantome de Rothschild is dead.”

Funded for the first time by a state lottery in 1936, another legendary French racing figure came to the fore a year later as Marcel Boussac enjoyed glory with the sensational mare Corrida (Fr), who followed up in 1937. In so doing, she went one better than the high-class Semblat-ridden 1931 heroine Pearl Cap (Fr), who at the time was the first of her sex to win the race. There was no Arc between 1939 and 1941, but from 1942 to 1949 the renowned textile manufacturer Boussac collected another four renewals to become the winningmost owner in its history prior to the emergence of Khalid Abdullah. His six included the highly successful sire Djebel (Fr)—one of four winners trained by Semblat—and his daughter Coronation (Fr) who took the 1949 edition, which had been boosted to 25 million francs as the most valuable race of its kind. In any other timeframe, success of this nature would have induced only celebration for the owner-breeder. But as it spanned the cataclysm of World War II, a dark side was inevitable and in 1944 his beloved Corrida was taken from his stud during the battle of the Falaise Gap.

In 1948, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III, enjoyed the first of his family’s many triumphs in the race with Migoli (Ire), who provided Charlie Smirke with his only winner on the first horse to dip under 2:32.00. Between 1950 and 1951 the race’s fourth dual winner appeared in the shape of Francois Dupre’s Tantieme (Fr) from the Francois Mathet stable. These were turbulent times, with his first win set against the backdrop of a kidnapping of a head lad during a stable lads’ strike, but the Haras d’Ouilly-bred rose above it all to carve his own niche in the folklore of the contest. A year later, the colt Nuccio (Ity), who had followed him home in 1951, brilliantly captured a second Arc for Aga Khan III.

In 1955 Mario Incisa Rocchetta’s revered Ribot (GB) entered stage right and became one of the greatest to have graced the Arc in the process. Another to record two victories, his last was his finest as he provided Frankel (GB) with the original template. Winning by a long-looking official margin of six lengths from a field that included the following year’s winner Oroso (Fr), the 16-race unbeaten Italian sensation created by Federico Tesio sealed his claim to immortality by siring the 1962 and 1964 Arc winners Molvedo (Ity) and Prince Royal (GB).

While British, French and Italian interests had shone in the Arc, it took until 1958 for Ireland to emerge on the honour roll, and how fitting that the late great Dr Vincent O’Brien commanded the breakthrough feat. His stable star Ballymoss (GB), who had been in the shadow of the wonderful Crepello (GB) during the early part of his Classic campaign, came to prominence thereafter and, at four, defied testing ground to provide American owner John McShain and jockey Scobie Breasley with the ultimate racing high. A year later, there was a dead-heat between Midnight Sun (Fr) and Saint Crespin (GB), with the former disqualified by the stewards due to interference.

During the 1960s, the race witnessed the emergence of the Head family with 19-year-old Freddy riding the 1966 winner Bon Mot (Fr) for his grandfather William and leading home his father Alec’s Sigebert (Fr) in the process. The decade also served up some of the contest’s finest equine performers in Guy de Rothschild’s Exbury (Fr) and Wilma Franklyn’s Vaguely Noble (Ire), with the latter, who was already accustomed to headline-making throughout his lifetime, being a brilliant winner of a stellar line-up including Sir Ivor. Trained by Etienne Pollet, he would have laid claim to being that handler’s best had it not been for the earlier emergence in the middle of the decade of the horse that many, including Lester Piggott, consider to be the greatest.

Sea-Bird (Fr), who was owned and bred by Jean Ternynck, took 1965 by storm and sauntered to glory in the Derby from the high-class Meadow Court (Ire). That peer was back in opposition at Longchamp, along with the Preakness hero Tom Rolfe and the Prix du Jockey Club winner Reliance (Fr), but the chestnut glided by them with Pat Glennon’s only concern being to keep him on as true a line as possible en route to a six-length destruction. He became the first Derby winner to claim this prize, no mean feat considering that five years later the magnificent Triple Crown hero Nijinsky dramatically failed to emulate his achievement.

Twelve months on from the eclipse of Charles Engelhard’s Ballydoyle legend, Kingsclere’s prolifically brilliant Mill Reef successfully flew the Epsom standard as he put the high-class Pistol Packer and co to the sword in track-record time. Amazingly, it was not until 1995 that the Derby-Arc double was completed once again by Lammtarra, who took his career record to four from four under first-time winner Frankie Dettori. In 1974, the Wildenstein silks emerged with the outstanding filly Allez France, whose rider Yves Saint-Martin was on novacaine having broken a bone near his hip 10 days previously. A year later, Star Appeal (Ire) gave Germany a first winner followed by Jacques Wertheimer’s Ivanjica—another success for the Heads—while in 1977 and ’78 Vincent O’Brien delivered Robert Sangster’s Alleged to glory. In the latter, it was against the odds with the colt having to be brought back to full health from a debilitating virus.

Fillies reigned supreme for a five-year spell thereafter, with the 1979 heroine Three Troikas (Fr) subduing Troy (GB) to become the first to be owned, trained and ridden by members of the Head family. Whereas she was under the care of Criquette, who remains the sole female trainer to win the Arc, the 1981 winner Gold River (Fr) was another to hail from her father Alec’s stable. She was rejected by Freddy and ridden by Gary Moore, who became the first to emulate his father in riding an Arc winner, with George Moore having steered the aforementioned Alec Head-trained Saint Crespin for Prince Aly Khan in 1959. In 1982, the current Aga Khan was celebrating his first Arc winner as the filly Akiyda (GB) got to the post just ahead of the great stayer Ardross (Ire) in the last renewal linked to a national lottery sweepstake. That was the closest that Ardross’s trainer Sir Henry Cecil got to winning the elusive prize.

In the mid-80s, the Arc witnessed a seachange which came in colours green, pink and white. Khalid Abdullah, who had been introduced to racing on a visit to Longchamp in 1956, was able to celebrate the first of his record-equalling six winners 29 years later. It had to arrive via a stewards’ verdict, however, as Rainbow Quest was handed the race after a tussle with the previous year’s hero Sagace (Fr). There was controversy in this decision, which was unsuccessfully appealed against by Sagace’s owner Daniel Wildenstein, but 12 months on Abdullah’s now world-famous silks were first past the post with no hint of ambiguity.

On that overcast afternoon in 1986, one of the race’s cherished ones thrust out of the autumn gloom like a ray of brilliant light. Already rightly heralded as one of the all-time greats having collected the 2000 Guineas, Eclipse and King George with rarely-seen panache, Dancing Brave (GB) was electric in Paris as he ran by Bering (GB) and a field stacked with talent. Stunning on the finest of his big days, he created one of the race’s everlasting spectacles as Pat Eddery delivered him to hijack the race with that late swoop. A year later, the much-missed Eddery made history by becoming the first of his profession to win three on the bounce as he produced the impressive Trempolino to get French racing legend Andre Fabre off the mark in emphatic fashion.

In the early and late part of the 1990s, a pair of John Hammond giants came through in Suave Dancer and Montjeu (Ire), the former exacting revenge on his disappointing Irish Derby conqueror Generous (Ire) in 1991, and Montjeu adding to his success in that Curragh Classic eight years later. Sporting the Michael Tabor silks, which at the time were becoming increasingly familiar on the European racing scene, Montjeu cut down the high-class Japanese runner El Condor Pasa with a tremendous home-straight effort. One of the best Arc winners, he provided Mick Kinane with the middle part of a treble of winners each 10 years apart culminating in that of the magnificent Sea the Stars (Ire). From 1996 to ’98, the stylish ‘Papillon’ Olivier Peslier emulated Eddery by winning three straight Arcs and the first two sit high in the race’s echelons. While Helissio (Fr) pummelled his rivals into submission from the front, the Wildenstein runner Peintre Celebre scythed down his opponents in dramatic fashion to set a new track record.

As Godolphin turned up the heat on the competition from the mid-90s, so their time for celebration here became more of a foregone conclusion with each passing year. It was not long before the royal blue team was in command and the first of its consecutive successes in 2001 and ’02 came via the brilliant Sakhee. His six-length victory equalled the records of Ribot and Sea-Bird and was all the more impressive as he gave all the allowances to the G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Prix Vermeille heroine Aquarelliste (Fr). From 2003 to ’05 the list was made up of a triumvirate of 3-year-old colts trained in France and there is little between the outstanding Dalakhani (Ire), Bago (Fr) and Hurricane Run (Ire). In 2006, the main talking point was the unexpected defeat of the deservedly-vaunted Deep Impact (Jpn) as Japan’s hurt continued with Fabre again holding sway with Rail Link (GB).

Aidan O’Brien first tasted glory in 2007 with the doughty Dylan Thomas (Ire) as the troubled genius Kieren Fallon prevailed prior to a spell of personal turmoil. That came nine years before the O’Brien-trained Found (Ire) was to lead home a remarkable one-two-three for her stable in the race rerouted to Chantilly as Longchamp underwent its renovation. Highly unlikely ever to be repeated, this feat of training was capped by the winner clocking the Arc’s official fastest time, albeit at that different venue. Found was the eighth of her sex to win since the scintillating Aga Khan homebred Zarkava (Ire) dominated the colts in 2008, in turn ending a 15-year wait since the future blue hen broodmare Urban Sea scored in 1993. In 2011 the Peter Schiergen-trained 3-year-old filly Danedream (Ger) scored by five lengths in the fastest Arc run at Longchamp, while soon after Criquette Head-Maarek turned up another family jewel in Treve (Fr). She was as impressive as any recent winner on the second of her two triumphs in 2014 and duly occupies exalted territory as a result.

Frankie Dettori was denied the ride on Treve with Head-Maarek favouring Thierry Jarnet, but that bitter disappointment proved merely the rainburst before the sun for the legendary Italian rider. He had to wait just 12 months for his fourth Arc victory with his mount Golden Horn (GB) becoming the second after Workforce (GB) to complete the Derby-Arc double in a five-year period. In 2017, Khalid Abdullah’s Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {GB}) emerged from the 1920 hero Comrade’s base in Newmarket to bring up the first of two further wins for Dettori and for her owner-breeder. Fittingly, she strives for history both for herself and connections on the centenary of the triumph of that bygone performer, having lost out on her bid for an unprecedented third Arc in 2019. There will be a perfect symmetry if she bookends the 100-year period for Clarehaven with a glorious swansong on Sunday, in the nonpareil of racing titles, the autumn’s truth.

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