Embedded Files
Brian Lee is the author of the now out of print
'Welsh Steeplechase Jockeys'.
Its foreword was written by Sir Harry LLewellyn, Bart, OBE.
Brian recalls Sir Harry.
Colonel Sir Harry Llewellyn, who celebrated his 80th birthday in 1992, will always be associated with that unique show jumper Foxhunter on whom he won Olympic team gold and bronze medals. But he was also a leading amateur rider who finished second and fourth on Ego in the Grand Nationals of 1936 and 1937 respectively.
Born at Fairfield near Aberdare in 1911, Harry Llewellyn rode his first winner under Rules on Theorem in the Bassett Hunters Chase at Cowbridge Racecourse in 1931. Seventeen year later, in 1948, he rode his last winner at Chepstow Racecourse when King Karl won a similar event.
Many of his victories were gained at meetings now long gone such as Cardiff, Colwall Park, Tenby, Manchester and Hawthorn Hill. An all round athlete, who in his younger days excelled at rugby and high hurdling, he set a record that will probably now never be beaten when at the Cheltenham Festival meeting of 1948 he won the Foxhunters' Chase on State Control and the United Hunts Chase on Bay Marble. No other rider had ever achieved the big hunter chase double. And now that the United Hunts Chase is held later in the season, his record appears safe for all time.
Like fellow Welshman Fulke Walwyn, he started in racing by riding in Welsh point to-points. And, also like Fulke Walwyn, he used to school horses for Captain Morgan Lindsay at Ystrad Mynach who used to train horses for his father Sir David Llewellyn.
His first point-to-point success was on a horse called Pentych at the Lord Tredegar fixture of 1930 when he finished strongly to win the nomination race by a short head. Perhaps the best horse he ever rode was Ego who , as previously mentioned, was runner-up to Reynoldstown at Aintree. It shows much for his determination that he reduced his weight from 14 stone to 10st.3lbs to ride Ego in the Grand National.
Ego ran five times at Aintree covering seventeen-and-a-half miles without falling. Little wonder that he was nick named the 'Modern Manifesto' after the legendary Grand National winner. Other good horses Harry rode were Breconian, Silver Grail, Happison and China Sea. It was on the last named that he won several races in a row and was successful on this horse at the last meeting to be held at Tenby in 1937.
A pleasant and amiable man, I recall him buying my book, The Races Came Off - The Story of point-to-point racing in South and West Wales, when I was selling them at Chepstow Racecourse the year it was published 1986.
He asked me to sign it and when I wrote the usual' Best Wishes' and signed my name he took one look at it and persuaded me to write a much longer inscription. When he had brought out his autobiography Passports to Life in 1980 , he had signed his book to me with the words- 'To Brian Lee. We are all so grateful to you for recording point-to-points in South Wales. Harry Llewellyn'
Harry Llewellyn on Theorem after winning the open race at Monmouthshire point-to-point in 1932.
He is being led in by George Legg
*********************
Other notes on Sir Harry
The second of eight children, Henry Morton Llewellyn was born in the family home in Breconshire on July 18, 1911.
His father, David, a master of hounds, introduced him early to hunting and a lifelong love affair with horses began.
Harry quickly established himself as an above-average amateur and, in 1936, finished second on Ego in his first attempt at the Grand National. He came fourth the following year.
Numerous wins followed.
He won the 1938 Hunters' Grand National Steeplechase on Rubin Wood and the 1939 United Hunts Steeplechase on Tapinetee.
Having left an indelible mark on the racing scene, he rode for the last time under Rules at Fontwell Park on March 23, 1949. His mount was Red April, the horse he considered to be the best steeplechaser he ever rode.
After the war, Harry was associated with Foxhunter, a golden-bay gelding on which, over a five year period, he captured all Show Jumping's top prizes.
Harry was knighted in 1977.
He died on Monday November 15, 1999, aged 88.
Llewellyn's first great achievements in the horse world were gained as an amateur steeplechase jockey. He won 60 races under National Hunt rules between 1931 and 1950, as well as having two memorable rides in the Grand National on Ego with whom he finished second in 1936 and fourth in 1937.
On the latter occasion he had (as usual) to do battle with his weight, reducing it from 12 stone to 10 stone 4lb with the help of running and dieting. After sweating the last pounds off during a three-mile run on the day before the race (while zipped up in an airman's suit with many layers beneath it) he finally made the weight. Ego, who started favourite, had looked the likely winner until a riderless horse ran across him at the last open ditch, causing him to plunge right through the fence and be brought back to a standstill. It was no mean achievement to finish fourth after that debacle.
In October 1939, shortly after the start of the Second World War, Llewellyn secured a commission in the Warwickshire Yeomanry - mainly, he believed, as the result of the reputation he had gained during his steeplechasing exploits with Ego. He was to take part in several major campaigns and was on General Montgomery's staff from November 1942 until the end of the war in Europe, part of that time as Senior Liaison Officer at Eighth Army headquarters.
He rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, was twice mentioned in Dispatches, and was decorated with the US Legion of Merit and appointed OBE. His services to Wales were later to be rewarded with a knighthood in 1977.
Always debonair and charming, Harry Llewellyn played many roles in the administration of show jumping - among them Chairman of International Affairs, chef d'equipe of the British team, Chairman of the British Show Jumping Association (from 1967 to 1969) and more recently the Honorary Vice-President of the association.
He was chef d'equipe during the Mexico Olympics of 1968, where David Broome appreciated his diplomacy in keeping the team happy. "Once or twice he must have felt like squaring the lot of us, but he resisted the temptation and took the diplomatic way out instead. I've admired him for this ever since."
"Sir Harry was a legend in his own lifetime," says Andrew Finding, the current chief executive of the BSJA. "His was an era of show jumping that to this day we aspire to emulate. His knowledge and experience were second to none."
Henry Morton Llewellyn, show jumper and jockey; born Aberdare, Glamorgan 18 July 1911; OBE 1944, CBE 1953; Kt 1977; succeeded 1978 as third Bt; Chairman, British Show Jumping Association 1967-69; married 1944 The Hon Christine Saumarez (died 1998; two sons, one daughter); died Llanarth, Monmouthshire 15 November 1999.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse