Clare Balding’s legendary horse trainer father Ian Balding has died aged 87.
Mr Balding was a well-known and successful trainer and Cheltenham Festival-winning rider.
He made his name with horse Mill Reef, who won numerous events just six years after Mr Balding was handed his licence at the age of 26.
Mill Reef was a two-year-old horse at the time who went on to win the Derby, Eclipse, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1971.
There was such success that Mr Balding was named as champion trainer in the same year.
But he was also known for training winning horses for the late Queen Elizabeth II, notably securing victory for her at the 1974 Musidora Stakes at York with Escorial.
In the 1990s, his star steed was Jeff Smith’s Lochsong, who was voted Cartier Horse of the Year in 1993.
Announcing his death, Park House Stables, which Mr Balding led for years, said in a statement: ‘We are deeply sorry to share the sad news that Ian Balding has passed away.
‘A wonderful family man, a hugely successful racehorse trainer and a brilliant sportsman.
‘He will be greatly missed by all at Park House.’
The stables shared a photograph of Mr Balding with his grandchildren, Jonno, Toby and Flora.
The trainer is also survived by his wife Emma, and their two children, Clare and Andrew.
Mr Balding had 65 winners, but perhaps his greatest victory was when he himself rode as an amateur jockey on Time in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham in 1963.
He went on to ride his own horse named Ross Poldark in the Foxhunter Chase over the Grand National fences at Aintree in 1985, aged 46.
He retired from the sport in 2002 and handed the reins of his racing dynasty, based at Park House Stables, in Kingsclere, Hampshire, to his son Andrew.
Andrew Balding has also secured multiple victories at Group and Grade 1 level since.
Mr Balding’s daughter Clare is now the face of sport across the BBC and Channel 4, but made her own debut in the world of horseracing as a presenter for the Royal Ascot highlights in 1995.
She also rode competitively, winning the KJ Pike & Sons Celebrity Charity Flat Race at Wincanton in 1997 on her father’s horse Pay Homage.
Tributes to Mr Balding have begun pouring in, with BBC sports presenter Gabby Logan writing: ‘Sending love to you all’.
Jockey Martin Dwyer told the Racing Post Mr Balding had been ‘like a second father’.
He added: ‘I arrived from Liverpool as a snotty-nosed 16-year-old, a bit rough around the edges, and he shaped me into the person I am today. I served my apprenticeship with him and had some really nice winners.
‘He was a good guy to ride for. He was quite strict with a lot of things but he could take defeat well and he always took the time to talk through things. He taught me so much.
‘It’s very sad but he lived a great life and he loved sport.’
Irish sports broadcaster Rachel Wyse added: ‘RIP Ian’.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
