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British-bred Jack Horner was purchased as a foal at foot from the Melton Stud dispersal sale by Francis Wiley (later Lord Barnby), and raised in Nottinghamshire. At age 4 he was broken by Wiley's son, Col. F. Vernon Wiley, master of the Blankney Hunt, and carried the whipper-in during the first half of a famous twenty-six mile run. He was sold as a hunter in the fall of 1923, and then sold again to Colonel B. Nichols for a low sum, since by then he had developed the habit of refusing fences. Nichols schooled him at Bilton Park near Rugby, and Jack was sent to race several times in hunter's chases and point-to-points, when he jumped erratically, sometimes refusing. During a trial over fences for another horse, Jack, carrying 3 stone more than the trial horse, won by 10 lengths, "...a revelation to all concerned." He was then entered in a steeplechase at Sandown Park, where he placed third, after which he was sold to his rider in the trial, the amateur American rider Morgan de Witt Blair. He ran several times in 1924, finishing, but not winning. In 1925 he won the Saltley Steeplechase at Birmingham, was defeated twice in other steeplechases and then ran in the Grand National, going off at odds of 40 to 1; he ran seventh, having a near-fall at one fence. After other undistinguished races, he was sold to Blair's partner, Kenneth Mackay, in a partnership dissolution. In 1926 he was sent to trainer Jack Leader, and, set to schooling with two year olds to improve his speed, won or placed in several steeplechases early in the season, then was sold to American Charles Schwartz who wanted to buy a possible Grand National winner for the inflated sum of £4,000, plus a £2,000 contingency if he won the National. He did win that National, carrying 10 st. 5 lb, beating the unlucky and aging Old Tay Bridge (12 st. 2 lb.) and Bright's Boy (11 st. 8 lb.). Jack Horner broke down during his preparation for the 1927 Grand National and was sent to America for retirement. Jack Horner's dam, the unraced Melton's Guide, came from a series of unraced mares back to Thalia, her third dam, who ran second in the Cambridgeshire and the Great Yorkshire Handicap at Doncaster, and who produced Play Actor, a fairly succesful jumper sire in Ireland, in the stud. Jack Horner's sire was Cyllius, an undistinguished son of the good racehorse and outstanding sire Cyllene. |
