Great Race Horses Collection

This is a short summary of the history of the 7 horses that appear in the Great Race Horses Collection.

Mill Reef
Mill Reef (1968-1986) was a Champion Thoroughbred racehorse in the United Kingdom. Mill Reef was owned and 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.

Sea Bird
Sea Bird II (1962-1973) is considered by many to be the greatest post-war European flat racehorse. His Timeform rating of 145 is still the highest ever flat figure awarded by that publication. Owned and bred at the stables of Lille textile manufacturer Jean Ternynck, Sea Bird II is most famous for his breathtaking victories in two of Europe's most prestigious races: the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He was by the French Derby runner-up Dan Cupid, and trained, like his sire, in France by Etienne Pollet. Amazingly, his five immediate dams never won a flat race among them. He had just three races as a two-year-old, winning two (including the Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte). He met with the only defeat of his career in the Grand Critérium when second to his stablemate Grey Dawn.

Arkle
Arkle (19 April 1957 - 31 May 1970) was a famous Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. A bay gelding by Archive out of Bright Cherry, his grandsire was the unbeaten (in 14 races) flat racehorse and prepotent sire Nearco. Arkle was bred at Ballymacoll Stud, County Meath by Mrs. Mary Alison Baker of Malahow House, near Naul, County Dublin. Owned by Anne Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster, Arkle was trained by Tom Dreaper at Greenogue, Kilsallaghan in County Dublin, Ireland and ridden during his steeplechasing career by Pat Taaffe. Arkle became the first racehorse in Britain to capture public attention outside racing circles and he is regarded as the greatest steeplechaser of all time.

Golden Miller
Golden Miller (1927-1957) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who is the only horse to have won both of the United Kingdom's premier steeplechase races - the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National - in the same year (1934), setting a new course record for Aintree in the National. The 1934 win was the middle of five consecutive Gold Cup victories, a Gold Cup record. He was trained by Basil Briscoe in Longstowe, Cambridgeshire and retired in 1939 with a record of 28 wins from 52 races. He was owned by the very eccentric Dorothy Paget. He is buried at Elsenham Stud, a working farm in Elsenham, West Essex.

St. Simon
St. Simon (1881 - April 2, 1908) was an undefeated British Thoroughbred racehorse and one of the most successful sires in the history of the Thoroughbred. In The Sporting Times' ranking of the Top 10 Great Britain Racehorses of the 19th Century (1886), St. Simon was ranked fourth.

Ormonde
Ormonde (1883-1904) was an English Thoroughbred racehorse, an unbeaten Triple Crown winner, generally considered to be one of the greatest racehorses ever. He was a bay colt, born in 1883. Bred at Eaton Stud in Cheshire, Ormonde's sire was the Derby winner Bend Or, while his dam, Lily Agnes, was sired by another Derby winner, Macaroni.

Eclipse
Eclipse (1 April 1764–26 February 1789) was an outstanding, undefeated 18th-century British Thoroughbred racehorse who was later a phenomenal success as a sire. He was born during and named after the solar eclipse of 1 April 1764, at the Cranbourne Lodge Stud of his breeder, Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland.[2] It was at this stud that his sire, Marske (by Squirt from The Ruby Mare) stood, his dam, Spiletta (foaled 1749) was by Regulus, by the Godolphin Arabian. After the death of Prince William in 1765, Eclipse was sold for 75 guineas to a sheep dealer from Smithfield, William Wildman. The amazing life story of Eclipse inspired the novel O'Kelly's Eclipse by screenwriter Arthur Weiss.