Frank Reys

Frank Reys (c.1931–1984) was an Aboriginal Australian jockey. He was the second Indigenous Australian jockey to win the prestigious Melbourne Cup when, in 1973, he rode to victory on Gala Supreme.

Reys' career began in Northern Queensland. He raced in North Queensland, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and country Victoria, winning his first ride in 1948 as a 16-year-old. In his career as a jockey he had 1,330 winning rides, made more impressive by the fact that there was only one metropolitan and one regional race meeting per week in those days. His 1973 Melbourne Cup win was his last. In winning his last race at 45 years of age in 1976, he bookended his career with winners.

Heritage Frank Reys' father was Filipino and his mother Aboriginal, of the Dyirbal people of Northern Queensland. However, he was widely reported as Filipino only throughout his career. Many believed that it would have hindered his prospects had he discussed his Aboriginal heritage openly in a time of racial discrimination and legislative limitations. Frank's daughter Shelley Reys once said: "My father was one of fourteen children. It was a different time in those days, a time where Indigenous heritage was not valued as it is today. People were marginalised simply on the basis of race and colour. Dad was proud of [his parents'] Aboriginal and Filipino heritage. Both parents made their mark in shaping who he was, as too his many brothers and sisters."

Reys' place in history as the first Aboriginal jockey to win the Melbourne Cup has been contested by some, on the basis that he was preceded by John Cutts on Archer in the first Melbourne Cup in 1861, and by Peter St Albans on Briseis in the Melbourne Cup of 1876. Neither of these jockeys, however, was Aboriginal, despite the legends that have risen up around them.

Early years Frank Reys was born in about 1931, one of 14 children, 8 boys and 6 girls. His father, who had immigrated to North Queensland before Frank was born, was a Filipino labourer and cook who worked on farms in North Queensland – inland from Cairns.

Later his apprenticeship was transferred to Gordon Shelley, one of Brisbane's top trainers. In his early riding years Reys worked hard to establish himself as a fully fledged jockey without the assistance of anyone but his "boss", Shelley.

Career At the end of his apprenticeship he travelled widely and became one of a few who have ridden over 1000 winners.

Among the highlights of his time in Victoria were:

25 November 1961 - Reys' best day's riding in Victoria in his racing career. He rode five winners in one afternoon at Moe. In October 2013, Shelley Reys was named by the Australian Financial Review as "100 Women of Influence". In July 2024, Shelley Reys was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame 'in recognition of groundbreaking contributions to the Indigenous space and reconciliation and as an influential business leader and change maker'.