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Cape Town - Legendary South African trainer Terrance Millard has died at the age of 89.
The son of a Welsh dairy farmer who emigrated to South Africa after his first wife died of tuberculosis and his second looked like suffering the same fate, Millard was champion trainer seven times, trained the winners of 2 257 races including 117 Group 1s and a record 16 in one season.
According to the Racing Post's Michael Clower, Millard won the country’s most famous race, the Durban July, six times and in 1986 and 1990 he sent out the first three, a feat which has never been repeated. He also won both the Met and the Gold Cup six times.
His record of 117 Group 1 wins was bettered by Mike de Kock last year and the eight-time champion trainer paid homage to his predecessor by saying: “Just to be mentioned in the same breath as Terrance Millard is good enough for me. What I remember from his days is that we were absolutely in awe of him.”
Millard retired in 1991 when he was only 61.
“I wanted to give my son Tony a chance” - but after winning two Mets and a Durban July, Millard jnr was offered the chance to train in Hong Kong.
His younger daughter Carol was a jockey for a time and is married to Geoff Woodruff, a successful point-to-point rider in Britain and five-time champion trainer in South Africa.
Tragedy struck in 1982 when Millard's elder daughter Jenny drowned while windsurfing off Cape Town, and again seven years later when most of his best horses were killed in a road accident on the way back from Durban.
A funeral service will be held on Thursday, November 28 at 14:00.
Woodruff told the Sporting Post on Monday that the service will be held at St Oswald’s Anglican Church, 34 Park Avenue, Milnerton.
