|
 |
 | | | You are in: Other Sports: Horse Racing: Epsom Derby 2002 |
|
| |  Tuesday, 4 June, 2002, 17:01 GMT 18:01 UK Mills lives the Derby dream Mills trains on the edge of the Epsom course
Vodafone Derby, 1550 BST, 8 June There can be no surer antidote to the superpowers that usually dominate the Derby than Terry Mills. Mills, a local man who turned to training after running a successful waste disposal business, will bring some much-needed colour to the 2002 race . He saddles his number one hope Where Or When and the improving but seemingly out- of-depth Frankies Dream. The 65-year-old Mills is a long-term racehorse owner who was determined to go into training. Mills has 45 horses at Loretta Lodge stables, on the edge of Epsom racecourse itself.
And he has often successfully gatecrashed the top-level races with the likes of Royal Ascot winners Bobzao and Mitcham. Where Or When was a top juvenile, winning the Group 3 Somerville Tattersalls Stakes and chasing home this year's 2,000 Guineas winner Rock Of Gibraltar in the 2,000 Guineas. Mills' colt came 11th in the Guineas before finishing fourth to another Derby candidate, Moon Ballad, in the Dante Stakes. "He's a better horse horse than the Dante run suggests," says Mills in a smoky, London voice that has uncanny echoes of Frank Butcher, the former EastEnders character. "I was disappointed with the way he was ridden as he was given too much to do," "If there is a muddling pace he may well catch some of the better-fancied runners out as he is a colt who can quicken."
Frankies Dream's credentials are less obvious, although he is clearly on the upgrade. He finished third to Coshocton in another Derby trial, the Predominate Stakes at Goodwood, soon after winning his maiden at Lingfield. "Both horses are working well and Frankies Dream is improving," Mills says. "He was only just beaten by Moon Ballad when they met at Newmarket last year so that gives us hope." Mills' previous Derby runner All The Way finished fifth behind Oath in 1999. This time, the trainer was less than impressed when Kieren Fallon, whom he had booked for Where Or When, decided to ride for Aidan O'Brien in the Derby instead. Jimmy Fortune now replaces Fallon, with Pat Eddery, no mean substitute himself, recruited for Frankies Dream after Richard Hughes was claimed to ride at Doncaster. After a morning swim and overseeing each day's training, Mills still heads to his company A & J Bull's headquarters in Mitcham, Surrey. He is a tireless man who built up a thriving business having started in 1962 with just one lorry. Mills would be the first to tell you that it is far more difficult to make a successful business out of training racehorses. But he does so more for his love of racing than to turn over a decent profit. Some would say that Mills is overfacing Where Or When and Frankies Dream at Epsom, but he is having none of it. "You have got to take your chance in the Derby," he says. "I've had horses for 30 years and all I am looking for is a Group One winner. If it is in the Epsom Derby even better. Then I will retire a happy man." | |
Top Epsom Derby 2002 stories now:  Links to more Epsom Derby 2002 stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|  | | | | | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
|  E-mail this story to a friend |
| |
| Links to more Epsom Derby 2002 stories |
| | | ||
 | ||||
 | | Back to top
| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------------ BBC News >> | BBC Weather >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |
