Henry Bryan Bletsoe, always known as Bryan, was born at Barnwell near Oundle on February 23, 1883, the son of trainer Bernard Bletsoe. He came from a long-established Northampton family. Bryan’s father had trained Grudon to win a snowy 1901 Grand National.
He became apprenticed to Frank Cole, Joe Cannon and his father. He made the perfect to his riding career under National Hunt rules by winning on his first ride over jumps, Lord James in the Maiden Hurdle at Hurst Park on January 17, 1902.
Bryan was the jockey aboard the American-bred Rubio when that horse won the 1908 Grand National. William Bissill, the stable jockey of Fred Withington, had the choice of rides between Rubio and Mattie Macgregor. After a trial gallop, Bissill selected the latter. Bryan jumped at the chance to partner the rejected Rubio and won the National by ten lengths. Bissill, on Mattie Macgregor, came second.
The weather conditions which greeted the riders at Liverpool on March 29, 1908, were so bad – the racecourse was hidden under a blanket of snow – that the 24 jockeys presented a petition to the Clerk of the Course asking that the race be postponed. Incredibly, he refused and the race went ahead.
Strangely, Bryan competed in a further six Nationals and failed to get round once. His Grand National record was:
Rubio (1908) WON
Young Buck (1909) fell
Viz (1911) fell
Blow Pipe (1914) fell
Irish Dragon (1919) pulled up
Glencorrig (1921) refused
Wavertree (1922) fell
He was perhaps unlucky not to have won other races over the Grand National fences, for he finished second in the 1911 Stanley Chase on Middle March and in both the 1922 and 1923 renewals of the Becher Chase on Collusion and Uproar respectively.
Bryan rode just one winner at Cheltenham’s National Hunt meeting, that being on Viz in the Cheltenham Chase in 1911.
Besides the Grand National, Bryan’s next biggest win was the Scottish Grand National on Scarabec. He’d previously finished third in the race in 1911 on Middle March.
He narrowly failed to make it a hat trick of domestic Grand Nationals, finishing second in the Welsh version at Cardiff on Mother’s Gift in 1920.
During the First World War, Bryan served as an officer in the Northamptonshire Yeomanry in Egypt.
He enjoyed his best season numerically in 1920 with a score of 33, placing him sixth in the National Hunt jockeys’ table. He rode a total of 147 winners during his career, the last of them on Sir Flavien in the Winkfield Novices’ Chase at Hawthorn Hill on November 23, 1923. His final ride was, appropriately, over the Grand National fences, on Annam, who fell in the Stanley Chase on March 27, 1924.
After hanging up his saddle, he trained to modest effect at East Ilsley.
During the Second World War, Bryan, in Egypt, served as an officer in the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. He also worked for the BBC in the Second World War.
Bryan died in Northampton on January 16, 1968. Aged 84, he left £21,682.
He died without children: however, the family tradition was carried on by his nephew, Bernard.
Biggest wins:
1908: Grand National – Rubio
1911: Cheltenham Chase – Viz
1914: Scottish Grand National – Scarabec
