The Great Racing Read: The Story Of Mill Reef

The Story of Mill Reef
By John Oaksey

On the first evening of decreed isolation this week, I joked to my husband that he was fortunate to be in lockdown with me. “Well, at least we have the animals,” he replied, unreassuringly.

We do indeed, and we also have a house full of books, many of them, unsurprisingly, about racing and breeding. Over the next few weeks we will be encouraging TDN readers to share their favourite racing book with us. I'll start off with mine, and if you'd like to tell me about yours, please get in touch via [email protected] .

I know that I will never read a better race report than John Oaksey's account of Mandarin's victory in the 1962 Grand Steeple Chase de Paris. The acclaimed amateur rider and racing journalist, best known as 'Audax' in the Horse & Hound, had a matchless gift for words and, as the 50th anniversary of Mill Reef's Derby approaches next year, it is worth trying to find a copy of The Story of Mill Reef.

The mastery of Oaksey was not just in his own knowledge of the sport from the bottom up but his ability to express its wonders in a manner that takes the reader along for the ride with him. The clever brevity of his writing is a delight, especially in this recounting the tale of one of the great horses of the 20th century.

A particular favourite passage is the description of the light-footed Mill Reef barely leaving an imprint on the turf after an exercise gallop on soft ground: “'It's as though a ghost had galloped by,' says Ian and although neither he nor I had ever heard such a thing before, there does not seem to be much doubt that some quality in Mill Reef's action enabled him to float where others sank and fly where they could only flounder.”

In these days of isolation you could devour this slim book in an afternoon–several hours that will be well spent indeed. Oaksey also wrote the script for the film of Mill Reef's racing career called Something To Brighten The Morning. Narrated by Albert Finney, that, too, is a gem.