How Henry Devine was badgered into buying Jet Master

Henry Devine used to enjoy telling the story of how his wife Patricia bullied him into buying an unprepossessing thoroughbred weanling on an out-of-the-way auction. He only had to pay R15,000 for the gawky creature, but he wasn’t happy, and for a while referred dismissively to “my wife’s donkey”.

The donkey turned into Jet Master, racehorse supreme and the best South African-bred stallion to have graced the mating shed.

Henry Devine ‘a true gent’

Henry Devine, a doyen of local racing and breeding, died at midnight on Saturday/Sunday at the age of 100 and will be mourned by everyone who knew him as a true gent, a man who epitomised a bygone age of grace and dignity.

Henry’s “masterstroke” with Jet Master happened one fateful day at the Pietermaritzburg Showgrounds in 1995. The bay yearling had been consigned to the minor sale by Natal Midlands farmer Hugh Jonsson, who kept a few thoroughbred broodmares as a hobby alongside his main business of fresh produce.

A nearby stud farm was standing Rakeen, one of very few sons of legendary Northern Dancer to race in South Africa (he finished third in the Durban July). It was sheer convenience that saw Jonsson’s mare Jet Lightning mated with Rakeen. And it was sheer fate that saw Jonsson’s strawberry fields needing capital investment at a certain moment and him deciding to sell his weanling at a sale a few kays down the N3.

‘Most beautiful creature’

Patricia Devine spotted the bewildered colt standing in a box away from the sale hubbub. “I fell instantly in love,” she recalled in an interview decades later. “He was knock-kneed and had no chest, but I didn’t see that; to me he was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.”

Henry wasn’t so enamoured, but agreed to bid up to R10,000 for the fellow. When bidding edged over that mark Henry’s hand stayed down. In a moment of inspired devilment, Pat Devine grabbed hubby’s arm and thrust it skywards – and the colt was knocked down to the Devines for R15,000. Henry was furious, but it was the best purchase he ever made.

Incredibly, a few trainers turned down the chance to work with the son of Rakeen, before Tony Millard at the Vaal took on the job.

One wonders what those trainers felt when Jet Master won his first six races on the trot, including the Cape Guineas. The glory was briefly interrupted by wind operations, but the super horse soon picked up where he’d left off, concentrating on shorter distances under the care of champion trainer Geoff Woodruff, and ended his track career with 17 wins.

Jet Master’s death

Then came his true greatness, on the farm, covering the cream of the nation’s broodmares and siring hundreds of winners, including 24 Grade 1s, and was Equus Champion Sire five times. Famous progeny included Durban July and multiple Met winner Pocket Power, international-class sprinters JJ The Jet Plane and Mythical Flight, and classic stars Yorker, Pomodoro and Master Of My Fate.

The Devines received astronomical offers for their donkey but would not be turned. “It just wouldn’t be the same without him around,” said Pat. The couple was heartbroken when Jet Master died prematurely at 17 in 2011.

An article about Henry Devine in Sporting Post, on his 100^th birthday in June, revealed that he was born in (then) Mafeking and served in a British cavalry regiment in World War 2 in the Middle East – where he developed his love for and knowledge of horses.

After the war, he became a chartered accountant, practising for 25 years before selling to partners and indulging an urge to go horse racing. He ran his own stud farm at Paarl for several years and later boarded mares and stallions at other farms, while running a manufacturing concern.

He was reported to be “sharp as a tack” on his 100^th birthday.

RIP Henry Devine.