Born Midland W.A.
3 March 1930 – 8 September 1993
A natural light weight, Frank Treen was an outstanding jockey from 1946 to 1984, heading the Western Australian jockeys premiership table eight times and winning more than 2000 races.
He won 87 cup events, including the states most prestigious event, the Perth cup, five times- on Gurkha (1948), when he was just 18 years old, Avarna (1951),Bay Court (1962), Resolution (1963) and Jenark (1969).
Other big race successes for Treen included six W.A. Derbies, four Queen’s Plate, four Railway Stakes, six Karakatta Plates, Four Easter Cups, four Champion Fillies’ stakes, five W.A. oaks, six Kalgoorlie Cups and three Bunbury Cups.
On the afternoon of Saturday, 25 November 1967, Treen rode six winners on the seven race program at ascot.
His interstate record included wins in the Brisbane cup, port Adelaide cup, Hobart cup, and Epsom handicap. His best Melbourne cup finish was a third on Red Pine in 1958.
Treen went to scale at 7st 7lb (47.5kg) or even less and won his first race on a horse named Starry on 20 May, 1946, when having only his fifth race ride. His Last win was on Jodroy at Broome in 1983.
In one impressive spell in 1951, Treen completed an incredible grand slam by winning the State’s four main races, the Karakatta Plate, W.A. Derby, Railway Stakes and Perth Cup, at the Ascot summer carnival.
Treen rode more than 250 winners in the Eastern States and was regarded as one of the finest race riders in Australia. Always crouched low in the saddle, he had the knack of timing his finishing run to a split-second and was able to extract the last ounce of energy from his mounts with strong, sensitive hands.
Treen also holds the Australasian record for the highest number of Cup wins on metropolitan courses with 47 – four more than Sydney ace George Moore.