| PEOPLE |
YEAR: 1986
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In 1884 a proud young man from County Kerry in Ireland arrived in a South Canterbury district, later to be named Kerrytown. He brought with him a knowledge and love of horses, and the name of Timothy Brosnan became well respected in trotting circles. Today his son Jack, aged 81, still works with horses on the same family farm. His grandsons Richard and Tim continue the Brosnan tradition, and there's a younger generation growing up to take over the reins.
While Richard's achievements are public knowledge, it is not so well known that Jack Brosnan is the wise old man behind the success. He puts in a good eight to twelve hours a day, starting around 8am. His pace is slow and methodical, with many a pause to roll a cigarette, or lean on a shovel handle and take up a debate with a visitor. He has got firm views on many things, from stipendiary stewards to politics. He does all the tractor work on the farm, grows the oats and hay. He looks after the stables, the feeds and the odd jobs about the place. The whole complex, looking north to Mt Peel and Four Peaks, is sunny and about as spotless as hardworking stables can be. They're practical and efficient, no-nonsense sort of structures that well reflect the Brosnan philosophies.
Richard, 38, in his 21st year of full time training, acknowledges that his father is the biggest influence in his life. Two other men who were important to the developing horseman were Gladdy McKendry and Doug Watts. "I always ask Pop when things aren't going as well as they should," the father of three says. "He has an intuition about horses, especially early on with young ones. He has got a wealth of experience, and if there's a problem he will always come and have a look at it, and we can generally work things out." And he says, yes, sometimes he does have an older, wiser head on young sholders when he is out on the track because of that paternal influence.
Other people say Jack Brosnan has an exceptional ability to assess horses. He takes little notice of the stop watch, preferring instead to study stamina and class, and how a horse worked in a race. He is very firm with horses, but treats them all as individuals. Like many of his age, he is sceptical of modern methods and has a surgery of time-tested folk remedies at his fingertips.
He is firm too with owners. The Brosnan pride stands tall, and where an owner can't pay the price of trust he has been asked to take his horse away. There is more than a little of that famous Irish fighting spirit in this first generation New Zealander. He grew up with horses on the farm, taking control of a team of Clydesdales when he was 15. His father stood Man O' War (twice Auckland Cup winner) at stud and they raced horses as a hobby. He and a younger brother, worked in tandem. They also married sisters, Eileen and Winnie McGirr from Methven. Racing was well established in their family too.
Jack's father had a good mare in Golden Vale and the boys inherited her. She left them a legacy of luck with four winners. Battlefield won his first outing. Marsceres got to Cup class and made the cartoons of the day when he started five times in one week for four wins and a second. Battle Vale and War Field also won, so fuelled by those early successes, the Brosnans of the new generation were hungry for greater success. "It didn't matter what sort of horse we had - just as long as they were good," Jack says.
In this new age with public money in public companies, mechanical training aids, computer picks and laser machines, there are a diminishing number of characters like Jack Brosnan. Their love of racing goes deep into the cores of their souls. Their level of communication with horses goes beyond the materialistic. Their ability to draw the best out of the animals rests on an integrity earned by hard work and time.
He doesn't go to the races very often these days. Few of the familiar faces he has seen the decades out with are still there along the rails. The racing pages - and he bemoans the lack of racing news published in his local daily - and race commentaries are the substitutes. His life is busy. He's proud of his family, and lives with Richard and Juliya, their three children (Virginia, Richard and Soraya) and Tim. And just outside the house, there is the horses. Always the horses.
Credit: Christine Negus writing in HRWeekly 18Sep86