Terrance Millard
With a staggering 7 July wins to his credit, there can be no dispute that Syd Laird was the master of the Durban July. However, a very close second is Terrance Millard, who won the race 6 times and came within a short head of equalling Laird’s historic record when he saddled Al Mufti to finish a short head second to Flaming Rock in his retirement year of 1991.
Genius is an oft-abused term these days, but Millard richly deserves his title as one of South Africa’s most gifted trainers. Terrance Millard won 6 July’s, saddled the first 3 past the post on two occasions (1986 and 1990), saddled 1st, 3rd and 4th past the post in 1983 and first and third again in 1989. He won 2 Julys back to back (1983 and 1984) and won three in a row in 1988, 1989 and 1990. In addition, Millard won the July-Gold Cup double three times with Devon Air (1984), Occult (1986) and Illustrador (1990) and lastly, he also stood in the winner’s enclosure as an owner twice (in a row!) with El Picha (1999 and 2000).
Millard won his first July in 1983, when Mark Sutherland piloted Tecla Bluff across the line to become the first filly to win the July since Diza in 1963. It is worth noting that Arctic Cove (3rd) and Hawkins (4th) also came home under the Millard banner. He made it a fillies double the following year, when Felix Coetzee brought the mighty Devon Air home 1.25 lengths to the good of Versailles.
1986 Rothmans July finish
In 1986, Millard saddled an unprecedented first three past the post with Occult, Fools Holme and Enchanted Garden. Quizzed on this amazing feat Millard comments that the wrong horse won! “We wanted to run Fools Holme from just off the pace. I had my own jockeys on two of my horses (Felix Coetzee on Fools Holme and Mark Sutherland on Enchanted Garden), but I had to engage an outside jockey for Occult and the ride went to Bartie Leisher. The instructions were for Bartie to go to the front and set a good pace and for Felix to settle Fools Holme a little further back. Bartie went to the front, but instead of keeping a good gallop, he slowed the pace down. Felix followed instructions and stayed back, but when it came for the run to the line, nobody could catch Occult. Fools Holme was second and Enchanted Garden third. We subsequently sent Fools Holme out in the Champions Stakes and he led from start to finish and won by 5 lengths in a time of 2 minutes flat.”
In 1988, the Millard-Coetzee duo triumphed again with Royal Chalice. Although really a mile specialist, Coetzee rode a tactical, waiting race and when he pushed the button, Royal Chalice accelerated past the field to win by 3.6 lengths.
Millard was in the winner’s box again in 1989, when the light-framed grey Right Prerogative was a lucky 0.25 length winner over Tropicante. There had been so much rain that the first six carded races were cancelled and the July was run in heavy going. Mark Sutherland snuck Right Prerogative onto the inside rail where the track was a little drier, while Tropicante encountered all sorts of traffic and finished on the outside rail. Brother-in-law Ralph Rixon grumbled afterwards that the wrong horse had won and Millard agreed – he’d preferred Violera, who had also not had a clear run and finished 0.8 lengths back in third! Sadly, en route back to Cape Town, the float carrying 10 of Millard’s best horses went off the road and Right Prerogative was killed, along with Delectable Day and Rise To The Stars. It was a black day for Millard, who had kept 10 of his best back in Durban to get the benefit of a little more sun on their coats. He consoled himself with the fact that he still had Mark Anthony, who had been left at home in Cape Town. “The fact that I could leave Mark Anthony behind tells you how good my Durban team were,” he says ruefully. He would be dealt a further blow when Mark Anthony collapsed on the gallops and died of a heart attack shortly afterwards.
However, the true colours of a man shine most brightly in adversity. Millard was sent the mighty Jungle Warrior 3 months ahead of the December 1989 Queen’s Plate. “Things were different in those days and horses didn’t move around like they do now. You must remember that Eric Sands trained Jungle Warrior and he’d been second in the Guineas, he’d won the Derby and all sorts of races before I ever got him. But he did a tendon and when he was ready to come back, Eric recommended that the horse come to me. I was training at Sea Lodge at the time and he felt that my facilities would be the best thing for the horse. It’s not an easy thing to disadvantage yourself like that, but he did it in the best interests of the horse.” The sea water did the trick and Jungle Warrior finished 3rd in the Queen’s Plate and won the Met by nearly a length from Aquanaut.
1990 Rothmans July finish
In 1990, Millard’s July team consisted of Jungle Warrior, Olympic Duel and Illustrador. Olympic Duel had survived the horror crash and had the services of Mark Sutherland in the saddle. Millard reminisces, “I called her the iron filly. She needed a bit of reschooling in the pens after the accident, but she would go anywhere and do anything. She was a tough, tough filly”. Illustrador was another Argentinian-bred, by one of Millard’s favourite stallions, Cipayo. The horse was plagued with soundness issues, which were solved with the help of equine physiotherapist Winks Green. “If it hadn’t been for her, he would have remained an average sprinter. But she found and treated his back problems and he won the Natal Derby, Rupert Ellis Brown, SA Guineas, July and the Gold Cup that season and was named Horse Of The Year.” The 1990 team would give Millard his 6th July win as well as repeating his feat of saddling the first three past the post.
Millard’s swansong came in 1991, when Al Mufti lost by a head to Flaming Rock in a nail-biting finish.
What was the secret of his success? “I just like horses, you know? And I got lucky.”
