Dick Matthews

Dick Matthews

1909 - 1978

Article by Alan Trout

Richard Joshua Valentine Matthews, known as Dick, had four wins in his first decade under National Hunt rules but fared better with ten more victories during the 1940s.   

He had finished second on his first ride over jumps when Harpooner was beaten four lengths by Staff Ingham on Corduroy in the Paddock Hurdle at Manchester on January 31, 1930. Just four weeks later, at Taunton on February 27, he recorded his first success on the seven-year-old Saighton, trained by former jump jockey Bert Gordon, in the Fivehead Selling Handicap Hurdle, beating Theology, the mount of Billy Parvin, by two lengths.

Dick doubled his score at Torquay’s Easter meeting. The afternoon had not started well for him as he was fined by the stewards for taking the wrong course on Saighton in the selling hurdle. However, in the next race on the card he rode Lewis Gun, again trained by Bert Gordon, to land the Sidmouth Selling Chase, winning by a length and a half from Odin, ridden by the good amateur Reggie West. 

Dick only had two winners over the next ten years, including another one on Saighton, but in the spring of 1941 his fortunes improved as he struck up a partnership with horses trained by the former top jockeys Ivor and Owen Anthony. The best of these was The Uplifter on which he won four races, including at Cheltenham’s National Hunt meeting in March when taking the National Hunt Moderate Chase by a neck from Tommy Isaac on Grosvenor Bridge. 

After the war, Dick teamed up with the successful owner/trainer Lord Stalbridge (whose horses were in effect trained by Tommy Cross, although Lord Stalbridge held the licence) and rode the 1945 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Red Rower in his first race since that success when landing the Lattiford Handicap Chase at Wincanton in October. 

Another of Lord Stalbridge’s stalwarts was Red Rower’s half-brother Red April, who provided Dick with the final three victories of his career, the last of these being the Rushton Chase at Wincanton on December 27, 1946, for which he started at prohibitive odds of 10-1 on and won by 30 lengths. 

He may have already ridden his last winner but he was not yet finished with the big time, for on April 5, 1946 he lined up for the first post-war Grand National at Liverpool on Lord Stalbridge’s Bogskar, who had landed the prize in 1940. Sadly, Bogskar fell at the Chair.

Dick finished second on his final ride when Natural was beaten five lengths by Jack Dowdeswell’s mount Bob’s Your Uncle in the Easter Novices’ Chase at Wincanton on Easter Monday, April 22, 1946.

He retired having ridden the winners of both the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup, albeit not to their greatest triumphs.    

Dick Matthews’ winners were, in chronological order:

1. Saighton, Taunton, February 27, 1930

2. Lewis Gun, Torquay, April 21, 1930

3. Saighton, Torquay, April 6, 1931

4. Irishry, Hawthorn Hill, November 9, 1936

5. The Uplifter, Worcester, February 8, 1941

6. Capital Star, Nottingham, February 24, 1941

7. Slieve Mish, Taunton, March 13, 1941

8. The Uplifter, Taunton, March 13, 1941

9. The Uplifter, Cheltenham, March 20, 1941

10. The Uplifter, Ludlow, March 22, 1941

11. Red Rowe, Wincanton, October 27, 1945

12. Red April, Windsor, November 17, 1945

13. Red April, Windsor, December 8, 1945

14. Red April, Wincanton, December 27, 1945