brown jack: a horse we should never forget.

​There are two categories of great racehorses, I believe: there are what I would term ‘the-fly-by-nights’, the ‘Johnney-on-the-spot’ that for a season, and here I am inclined toward flat horses, that are unbeatable for a short period, from April to October, for instance, and in this category I place Sea The Stars and Dancing Brave, more so the former than the latter, and then retire from the stage before the next generation have a chance to devalue their reputation. The other category, and here we can include National Hunt horses, have within its folders the handicap winners, courageous horses who turn-up for all the top races they are eligible for and either win or do their darndest to win. Desert Orchid is in this category, Persian Punch, too, and Sea Pigeon; horses of longevity, class and, perhaps more importantly, the charisma to charm, who earn life-long respect. Brown Jack is in this category, the category of horse that do more for the popularity and image of the sport than all of the classic winners and blue-bloods since the days of Queen Anne.
To this day there is a 2-mile handicap named in his honour at Ascot. If I had my way the Brown Jack would be run on King George & Queen Elizabeth day as the main supporting race, a handicap over 2-mile 6, or 2-mile 4, the distances of his 6 wins at the Royal meeting.
Amazingly for a horse who captured the hearts of a racing nation, or perhaps as the romantic would expect, he began his life as a racehorse in humbler surroundings than the royal racecourse. For such a stout-hearted fellow, no doubt for perfectly sound reasons, his first racecourse experience was at Navan over 6-furlongs. He ran twice in Ireland before coming to our shores to be trained first by Aubrey Hastings at Wroughton and then by his successor Ivor Anthony.
His first start for his new connections was in, of all races, a 1-mile 4-furlong hurdle at Bournemouth, finishing third and picking up the princely sum of £5. He ran five times after his introduction, winning hurdle races over the same distance at Wolverhampton, Wincanton, Cardiff, Nottingham and Liverpool. The following season, after winning at Leicester and finishing second at Lingfield, Brown Jack won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and its first prize of £680. He never ran over jumps again. They thought him too good!
After Cheltenham, Brown Jack won at Windsor, Kempton, Ascot and Sandown, the Ascot race being his first at the Royal meeting, the Ascot Stakes, and the race at Sandown the Hwfa Williams Memorial.
What Brown Jack did not like was firm ground and most of unplaced efforts can be attributed either to the underfoot conditions or inadequacy of race distance. There was no artificial watering in those days, remember and not too many alternative races. Whereas modern trainers are spoiled for choice. But give him ground with ease in it and a distance of ground and he would invariably bounce back to form. In 1929, after three unplaced efforts, over what was to prove inadequate distances, he won the Salisbury Cup, at 20/1 would you believe! He ran twice at the Royal meeting that year, finishing second in the Ascot Stakes before winning the marathon Queen Alexandra for the first time. He was 2nd in the Goodwood Cup, third in the Cesarewitch and won at Nottingham under the steadying burden of 9st 5Ibs.
In 1930, when he was becoming box office, he won Queen Alexandra again, the Goodwood Cup, the former being worth considerably more than the latter, was third in the Ebor and won the Doncaster Cup
1931 saw him win the Chester Cup with 9-st 6Ibs on his back, the Queen Alexandra again and the Ebor, as well as being runner-up in both the Goodwood and Doncaster Cups.
1932 was a dry summer and the great horse was five-times unplaced, albeit with thumping big weights (9st 11 & 13Ibs and 10-st). But he won the Queen Alexandra for a third time and the Prince Edward Handicap at Manchester.
The summer of 1933 had rain in it, allowing him to add yet another Queen Alexandra to his tally and the Roseberry Memorial at Epsom. He was again runner-up in the Doncaster Cup.
In 1934, his final year in training, he ran four-times, unplaced over a mile at Lingfield and 1-mile 4 at Derby, third in the Chester Cup under 9-st 6, before bringing the house down in winning his fifth straight Queen Alexandra at Royal Ascot.
If you were not familiar with the name Brown Jack and wondered why Ascot still run a race in his honour, I hope this sortie through his racing record has given you an insight into why he was in his age the most popular horse in training and why I believe Ascot should elevate his race to its July meeting. It is why on June 5th, 1931, to his honour his achievements, at the Savoy, a distinguished list of guests assembled for a Brown Jack inspired menu. He also had both a train named in his honour and a public house!