Dick Rees, the son of a Pembrokeshire vet, was one of the greatest of the inter-war jockeys. He rode Shaun Spadah, the 100/9 outsider to victory in the 1921 Grand National winner and won the 1929 Champion Hurdle on Royal Falcon. He was the first winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1924 and also won it in 1928 and 1929. He was champion jockey five times in eight years. His score of 108 winners in 1924 was a record that stood for 28 years.
He and his younger brother, Lewis Bilbie Rees, grew up in a hunting and point-to-point atmosphere and before WW1 both rode for Mr Harrison’s Tenby stable. Bilbie inevitably suffered by comparison with Dick, but he was a fine rider in his own right, winning the 1922 Grand National on Music Hall and the 1928 Champion Hurdle on Brown Jack.
In 1914, Dick enlisted in the Sussex Yeomanry, was commissioned into the Manchester Regiment and finally seconded to the Royal Flying Corps. At the end of the war he rode as an amateur until turning professional in 1920, riding for trainer George Poole. He was the first rider to win 100 races in a National Hunt season (1924) and was champion five times between 1920 -1927.
Frederick Brychan Rees (Jockey): Born on 30 November, 1894; died on 14 August, 1951
