Racing legend who should canter into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame

Aug 21 2007 by Brian Lee, Western Mail

VALE of Glamorgan farmer John Llewellyn of Newlands Farm, St Mary Church, Cowbridge, was presented with point-to-point racing’s special committee award in 1992 for his services to the sport.

However, Llewellyn, a legend in hunt-racing circles, has yet to be honoured in his own neck of the woods and if anyone should be considered for induction into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame then it is surely this former brilliant amateur rider who during a long racing career rode an amazing total of 270 winners and who in 1982 became the first Welshman to win the national riders’ championship outright.

The late Michael Williams – the doyen of point-to-point writers – said of him, “One of the few riders to merit fully the accolade of legend.”

His strength and perseverance in the saddle enabled him to win races when all hope seemed lost, and he often appeared to be lifting horses to victory by sheer willpower.

Llewellyn, who chalked up his first win on Highland Myth in 1966 and his last on Chibougama in 1994, was born in a cottage on the site of the old Cowbridge steeplechase racecourse at Penllyn, which had seen the likes of the famed Anthony and Rees brothers.

The fact that he started riding in point-to-points at 16 but didn’t ride his first winner until he was 20 says something of his extraordinary determination.

Like many riders he had his share of injuries and these included a broken leg, shoulder blade, wrist, arm, collar bones and various other minor injuries.

But it was a riding accident near home in 1995, in which he suffered a broken hip, that finally put paid to his race-riding career and after six months on the sidelines he decided to retire.

As well as his wins between the flags, he rode a number of winners under rules at Cheltenham, Sandown, Newbury, Hereford and Chepstow.

It was at the latter racecourse, in front of a huge Welsh crowd, that he gained what was probably his most memorable victory on Grenville Richards’s Fixed Price in the 1986 Land Rover Gentlemen’s Hunter Chase Final.

Some of the other good horses he was successful on during his 30 years in the saddle were Cloud Castle, Beau Hawke, Proud Prince, Mandryka, Gemmerley Jane, Timber Tool, Radio Cue, Parkhbride and Fitz.

At their annual dinner, the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame reveal the names of those Welsh sports persons whose achievements have earned them a place on their Roll of Honour.

Let us hope we don’t have to wait too long before Llewellyn’s name is added to that illustrious list.