HENRY DE BROMHEAD spoke movingly about his late son Jack on the day a race was run in his honour at Leopardstown.
Jack de Bromhead died in September of this year after a racing accident at Glenbeigh.
The Jack de Bromhead Christmas Hurdle featured on the Leopardstown card today, where the Henry de Bromhead-trained Deep Cave won the opening Savills Maiden Hurdle.
The Knockeen handler had failed to saddle a winner across the first two days of the Christmas Festival and less than an hour before day three got under way, he was forced to withdraw his Cheltenham Gold Cup hero A Plus Tard from the featured Savills Chase on veterinary advice.
“Lovely to win the first, and yeah, amazing to see the rainbow,” de Bromhead told ITV after the race. “We always feel that’s a sign Jacksy’s around and it’s lovely to think he’s here with us.”
When it was put to him that it would be the icing on the cake if Bob Olinger could win the Jack de Bromhead Christmas Hurdle, he said: “Racing doesn’t work like that, Matt (Chapman), racing doesn’t work like that. Don’t depend on the horses to make you happy anyhow, whatever happens.”
De Bromhead added: “It would be incredible but we’re here to enjoy the day and celebrate Jack with his friends. That’s what we’re here for.”
Later in the day he said: “The support we have is incredible, friends, family, everyone working with us. Just everyone in the whole industry, everyone.
“We’re extremely lucky and very lucky to have these two (his daughters), and their mum, and we’ve had a fantastic day and we obviously miss Jacksy, but when we saw the rainbow we knew he was with us.”
