“Thank you for giving me everything.”
Jeanette Brakewell has said goodbye to her partner of almost three decades, the legendary Over To You (Jack), who died on 30 November aged 34.
The little chestnut thoroughbred retired as Britain’s most capped and most medalled event horse aged 20, with two Olympic team silvers to his name, a world individual silver and team bronze – and four European team golds.
“When I said goodbye to him, I just thanked him,” Jeanette told H&H. “For giving me everything. I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”
Jack went to Jeanette as a four-year-old; he had been bought by the Clegg family to race, but did not show much promise so was sent to be sold, but failed the vet owing to a heart murmur. Jonty Evans, who was working for Tony Clegg, rebacked Jack, and Tony’s daughter Fiona took him for a lesson with Chris McGrann, at whose yard Jeanette was based, at the end of his fourth year. Jack reared and cracked Fiona’s jaw, and Jeanette was handed the reins, with the words “over to you”.
Jeanette did not necessarily think at the time that Jack would go on to do what he did.
“He was a bit scrawny as a four- and five-year-old, and I was very young; 18 or 19,” she said. “But we just grew together. He kept answering the questions.”
Jeanette has said before it is hard to determine the highlights from Jack’s superb career, in which they also finished third, fourth and fifth at Badminton, and seventh at Burghley.
“One of the most special ones was when he won his own medal at the [2002] worlds,” she said. “I was listening to a zoom with Lucinda Green the other day, with Pippa Funnell, William Fox-Pitt and Piggy March, and Lucinda asked what had been the most difficult course to ride. Both Pippa and William said ‘Jerez, that bl***y water!’ It had caused all sorts of problems and I think Jack gave everyone a false sense of security because he just pinged through it.
“All the jumping just felt effortless to him. It wasn’t often I went round an intermediate, but I remember thinking, ‘For God’s sake, Jack, put some effort in!’ But it was only when he got to the big tracks his true scope came in. For a little horse, he had tremendous scope. And he loved it. He was so sensible about everything; always in a snaffle with his head up and his ears pricked.”
Over To You (Jack) photographed at Jeanette Brakewell’s yard for Horse&Hound, May 2013.
Jack retired from competition aged 20 – he finished 13th in the Tattersalls three-star (now four-star) World Cup qualifier. But he was still ridden until about four years ago, and even after he was fully retired, was still the centre of the yard.
“He was still shod and had his teeth done every six months – and he still had teeth, although they were pretty long!” Jeanette said. “He gave us a bit of a scare in the spring when for some reason he got into a stew in the stable and I told Katie, my head girl, to walk him to the field for a graze and he went down. The vet gave him some drugs and he was up and grazing: ‘I’m fine now thanks.’ So he wasn’t ready to go then, but it was a warning sign.”
Jeanette said Jack had been finding it a bit hard to get up, then sustained a leg infection that meant leg swelling, and she did not want him to deteriorate.
“We made the right decision and it was good the vet could come that day,” she said. He wasn’t all over the place, but it was the right decision.”
Jeanette added that she has since had more interest in her book Over To You: Britain’s Eventing Legend, as others remember Jack’s glory days.
“I don’t like seeing his stable now because he’s not there, but I just keep thinking of all the old memories and welling up,” she said. “It was a good end for a lovely horse.”
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‘You’d have thought at the age of 30 he would have mellowed but not a bit of it!’
Jeanette Brakewell on the 34-year-old Over To You: ‘He can still be giddy coming in from the field’
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