Background
Shirley Heights was a bay horse bred by his owners, the father and son team of Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax and Lord Irwin. He was one of many successful racehorses sired by Mill Reef, an American-bred horse who won the Epsom Derby, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1971. The successes of Shirley Heights enabled Mill Reef to win the first of his two British sires' championships in 1978. His dam Hardiemma was a highly successful broodmare whose other descendants include Pentire and Divine Proportions.
The name Shirley Heights comes from a military lookout point in Antigua Mill Reef had been named after the Mill Reef Club on the same island. THe colt was trained throughout his racing career by John Dunlop at Arundel in West Sussex.
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