The early days

Born in Wantage, Rae travelled around the country as a child, living near where father Charlie was riding. Rae started his riding career as an apprentice to Sir Gordon Richards at Whitsbury for whom he had his first rides.

The intention was for Rae to go jumping to Ken Cundell, whose stable jockey was then Stan Mellor. However, when Rae left Sir Gordon he got the call from uncle Nelson who was training in Denmark. He asked the young Rae to ride for him. This was the start of Rae's racing successful career in Scandinavia, where he rode eight classic winners.