{"id":669395,"date":"2026-01-02T17:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/669395\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T17:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:15:19","slug":"ian-balding-trainer-of-epsom-derby-winner-mill-reef-dies-aged-87-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/669395\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Balding, trainer of Epsom Derby winner Mill Reef, dies aged 87"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He retired in 2002 and handed over the licence to his son Andrew, who is now a multiple Classic-winning trainer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In a post on Instagram, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DTAXLrpjOTz\/\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Park House Stables, external<\/a> wrote: &#8220;We are deeply sorry to share the sad news that Ian Balding has passed away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;A wonderful family man, a hugely successful racehorse trainer and a brilliant sportsman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He will be greatly missed by all at Park House.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">His daughter Clare, who has presented BBC coverage of seven Olympic Games during her career, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DTAl2_ziCm9\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote on Instagram, external<\/a>: &#8220;My Dad was one of a kind. Fearless, funny and charming, he was an all-round sportsman, a great trainer and a beautiful horseman. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He loved his dogs, his horses and his family &#8211; probably in that order. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He shared with me his passion for sport and taught me to be brave enough to chase a dream, even if it seemed impossible. We&#8217;ll miss him so much.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He retired in 2002 and handed over the licence to his son Andrew, who is now a multiple&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-669395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115826637047883768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}