Henry Devine passed away this weekend at the age of 100 and will be remembered chiefly for SA racing’s most famous rags to riches fairytale, a horse called Jet Master.
The tributes will pour in for a passionate racing man and the story will be told and retold about the horse who was bought as a weanling for R15,000, thanks to the persistence of Henry’s wife Patricia, and then not only became a champion racehorse but a seven times champion stallion.
Less well known is the spat Henry had with the late great racing man Graham Beck and how many years later this boiled over into a legal case about the naming of a horse.
Jet Master originally stood at Beck’s Highlands Farm Stud but was removed after a disagreement.
Highlands’ mares were subsequently refused access to the prized stallion.
However, Beck was able to send a mare to Jet Master after he had bought a cover to him at an auction.
The resulting colt was a half-brother to the Grade 1 SA Classic winner Divine Jury and Beck named him Devine Jet as a deliberate dig at the Devines.
The colt fetched a then record of R4 million at the National Yearling Sale and drew a lot of attention to himself.
However, Henry insisted on a name change from the original Devine Jet and Graham was forced to comply because the National Horseracing Authority rules state that no surname can be registered without prior consent.
Divine Jet ended up on Beck’s dispersal sale after his death and was resold for R1 million before he had raced.
Dean Kannemeyer trained him to win his first three races and he consequently started favourite for the Cape Guineas.
However, he had stamina doubts and could only manage a 6,75 lengths seventh. If there had been foresight he would never have started anywhere near his odds because the race was won by Variety Club with Princess Victoria third and Gimmethegreenlight fourth!
Divine Jet only won one more race because he developed problems associated with keeping him an entire for stud.
However, he only produced a handful of foals and had six runners for two individual winners.
