There was a degree of inevitability that Henry de Bromhead would work with horses. He grew up with his father farming and training horses, and though he claims he “wasn’t a particularly good rider”, he “was always mad into the racing side of it, and the breeding side of it”.
“We’d have gone racing a lot when we were growing up. It was part of our life, and it was great.” That’s not to say de Bromhead didn’t witness the more challenging aspects of a career with horses too. “I saw how tough it was for my father ... he had some great years, and then some leaner years; like most trainers.” His father, the renowned and highly respected horse trainer Harry de Bromhead, died in July 2023. Henry de Bromhead, when in his 20s, had considered career options other than training, “but got drawn back to it in the end”.
He even met his wife, Heather, through the horse world – pony club, to be exact. “We were great friends growing up,” he says, before they became a couple in their late 20s. They went on to have three children, twins Jack and Mia, and younger daughter Georgia. When the children were aged two and under, the work-life juggle was tricky, but they “just had to get on with it”, he says. “In fairness, Heather is brilliant, and between us we managed – probably more so on the kids’ side, Heather.”
Having twins first was “definitely” a shock to the system, he says, laughing. “Ignorance is bliss. We didn’t know any other way. Georgia was a breeze when she came along.” All of the children started riding at a very young age. The girls enjoy showjumping, he says. Jack “wasn’t as keen on the showing ... but he was good at it ... He loved hunting. That was his thing.”
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Jack was just 13 when he died following a pony racing incident in early September 2022. “He was a great kid. He always had time for everybody. He led an incredible life for such a short life. What he packed in was just amazing,” de Bromhead says of his son. “He loved life. If he got into something he was just all in, be it riding, rugby, whatever he got into. Farming was one of his big passions ... tractors, you name it. He achieved a hell of a lot in, sadly, a short space of time. He was a real character.
“He was all about being outdoors. He would get our dogs ... and go off around the farm, going through ditches. He’d come back black and blue.
“I remember saying to my mother once about school – going to school was probably his least favourite thing – and she said, ‘I just think Jack doesn’t really have time for school’. He was so busy with all those different things.”
Jack had a very close relationship with Heather, de Bromhead continues. “He had Heather wrapped around his little finger. He only had to flash his eyes at her and she’d give in ... We had a lot of fun doing the showjumping, all his riding. I did a small bit of his farming and his tractors with him ... He loved farming with his friends.”
The close age gap between the siblings meant the three of them were “like triplets, actually”, de Bromhead says. “They had great times together. Obviously, like any siblings, they had bust-ups, but all in all they had a lot of fun.”
In his professional life, de Bromhead’s career has been studded with highlights. “We won what was called the ‘holy trinity’ in 2021 with the Champion Hurdle, the Champion Chase and the Gold Cup in the same year. It was the year of Covid. It was an incredible year at Cheltenham.” But following the loss of his son, there is one particular highlight that stands out “partly personally and professionally”, he says.
[ Henry de Bromhead’s Jungle Boogie gets the Christmas party jumping at AscotOpens in new window ]
“We trained this incredible mare called Honeysuckle who won everything, and she won the Champion Hurdle a couple of times. Then after Jack’s accident she got beaten a couple of times. And we opted to go back for one last race at Cheltenham, and she won that, the Mare’s Hurdle in 2023,” de Bromhead says.
“That was probably the most incredible day professionally for me and my family I think, to see the crowds and the support we got throughout ...” He pauses now, choosing his words with great care. “I always say Jack’s accident, I don’t know if I should say his passing over. People used to say ‘it’s quite public’. And I used to always think we’re nearly lucky, in a sense; there’s people that have very little support going through what we had to go through, or what we have to go through, should I say, with little or no support. People who’ve lost children, whereas we have the whole racing industry, all our family, our friends, everybody. We have so many people that support [us]. It’s just incredible.
“It is public, and people would come up to you at the races or wherever to offer their support. And I felt that was nearly a positive for us. Every bit of support you got gave you more strength. Every bit of support you get even now, I keep talking in the past, gives you more strength. There are people who don’t have that, and how tough it must be, how much harder it must be for them. Because we know how much strength we get from the support.”
A lot of that support and positivity has been channelled into the new Jack de Bromhead Equine Centre on the ChildVision campus in Drumcondra, Dublin, which has been very comforting for the family, he says. ChildVision provides support to children with visual impairments and additional disabilities.
It’s “positive and it’s uplifting, and we know Jack would be so proud of it”, he says of the centre, which opens today. De Bromhead himself initially became involved with ChildVision after a family friend’s child had availed of their services. De Bromhead had attended a meeting at the Horse Show and was fascinated by a talk on equine therapy, and then he learned ChildVision wanted to build a new centre at their Drumcondra base.
“A few months after [Jack’s death], I actually went to ChildVision, just to have a look around, and I was blown away by the whole operation. It’s an incredible set-up,” he says. Separately and unknown to him, a friend and client of de Bromhead’s, Chris Jones, also visited the centre, and subsequently proposed an idea to de Bromhead. “The pair of us [Henry and Heather] were in the main reception area, in tears, as he [Jones] discussed with me what he was thinking. And that was to help raise the funds to build this centre and name it after Jack.”
[ Henry de Bromhead has ‘good days and bad days’ in wake of family tragedyOpens in new window ]
The centre will offer equine therapy to children who are neurodivergent and to children with disabilities. De Bromhead is also hoping it is going to be a centre of excellence. “So if there is someone in Waterford, Limerick, or wherever in the country, and they want to come up and train in equine therapy ... the plan is for them to be able to come to ChildVision,” he says, “and bring it back to their place and provide this therapy for people all over the country.”
The centre, which will allow the ChildVision equine team and volunteers to extend their services to reach more children, over more hours, was built on foundations of philanthropy. It will rely on fundraising going forward.
De Bromhead knows first-hand the joy that horses can bring, and speaks of the “power of the horse”. “They’re incredible animals. I’ve been very lucky to work with them all my life.” He recalls a situation he observed between a disabled man and an initially anxious horse, and the beautifully calm interaction that followed between the two.
“We know he’d [Jack] be so proud to have his name associated with it,” de Bromhead says of the centre.
“We miss Jack, but we know he’s always with us,” he continues. “When Honeysuckle won that race, maybe they were always there, but I’ve never seen as many rainbows before as I’ve seen since the day after Jack’s accident. We always feel it’s one of the signs of him showing us he’s around.
“The day Honeysuckle won her last race at Cheltenham, with all these crowds and all the public and everyone there ... I got back home that evening after the races, or at some stage throughout the day; someone said ‘did you see the rainbow?’. It was the sunniest day of the year in Cheltenham, and there was a couple of little clouds over the winners’ enclosure in Cheltenham, and there’s this little rainbow over it. We have a picture in our sittingroom.
“Friends send them from all over the world. They’ll send pictures saying ‘Jack’s with us today’. It’s amazing.”
Donations to The Jack de Bromhead Equine Centre can be made here: https://childvision.ie/how-to-help/donate/
