Rees, Bill

With his father and an uncle both having ridden a winner of the Grand National, it was always on the cards that young Bill would follow in their 

footsteps. And so it proved.

William Rees was born on January 8, 1934.

He started out with Newmarket trainer Sam 

Armstrong, but was unhappy there so became apprenticed to Epsomtrainer Walter Nightingall. He was just 14 when his name first appeared 

on a racecard on Tuesday August 31 1948. He rode Spadesace (for 

Nightingall) in the Apprentices' Plate at Lewes.

However, it was for Lambourn trainer Fred Templeman that he rode his first winner, Gold Sandal in the first race at Salisbury on 24 August, 

1950. He weighed out for the race at 6 st. 7 lb.It was not a weight he could sustain. 

When his apprenticeship finished in 1953, he was already too heavy for 

the Flat: his ambitions turned to National Hunt racing and his elder brother Michael, already 

established over the jumps.

Bill had his first winner as a National Hunt jockey when taking the Canterbury Handicap Hurdle on 

Canberra on March 9, 1953, at Wye. It was trained by Snowy Parker who, a couple of years later, had 

entered Pelican Star to run in the Becher Chase. Bill was offered the ride, and finished a gallant 

fourth, not a bad result on his first ride over the Aintree fences.

Yet he was never to emulate his father or uncle in the National; riding Felias for Fulke Walwyn in 1957, he was brought down at the eleventh.

The following year he rode Colledge Master who, together with The 

Callant, was one of the best hunter chasers ever. Bill pulled him up after a circuit.

He had no luck again in 1959, parting company with Vigor at the second Canal Turn.

Bill's major success at Aintree came on board Cupid's Charge, who won the Topham Trophy in 1961.

!n 1960, it all came together. Having fallen at the last when seemingly holding Roddy Owen & Linwell the previous year, Bill and Pas Seul surged past Lochroe to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup

Bill rode over 50 winners for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Peter Cazalet's stable following the retirement of Arthur Freeman.

His career was bedevilled by injuries which would have forced lesser men to have at least contemplated retiring, but not so Bill. His indefatigable spirit was a wonderful example to others. He was still riding in his late 30s and, just eight days after celebrating his 37th birthday, he rode as strong a finish as has been seen from anyone all season when winning the Hairy Mary Handicap Hurdle on Artois at Ascot.

The beginning of the end came with a fall from the brilliant two-miler, Dunkirk, when taking on Arkle in the 1965 King George Vl Chase at Kempton. Probably suffering from a heart attack. the ill-fated horse crashed through the last ditch, smashing Bill's right thigh.

It took over a year for Bill to climb back in the saddle (by which time David Mould had taken over the reins as royal jockey). It took a further four months to ride his first winner back, but Lady Luck once again deserted him. Just a day after the Queen Mother's Oedipe had become his comeback winner, he fell from Lochmore at Fontwell, once again breaking his right thigh.

After another long spell on the sidelines, he decided to turn freelance, 

but found rides increasingly difficult to come by.

His last ride, a winning one, was on Arctic Bow at Wincanton on 22 February, 1973.

After hanging up his saddle, he became an assistant starter. Graduating to become a full starter, he spent 11 years releasing the tapes, finally retiring after the Sandown meeting in January, 1977.

Bill Rees died on November 22, 2013, aged 79.

The 1969 Grand National; The Beeches