Devon permit trainer Daphne Brackenbury trained a small string of jumpers near Newton Abbot in the 1960s. The licence was held on her behalf by her husband John, as women were not at that time allowed to do so, an outdated restriction which remained in place until 1966 when legal action forced the Jockey Club to amend their rules. In addition to training racehorses, John and Daphne also ran the Ring o’ Bells pub in North Bovey.
Their son, John Howard Brackenbury, was born in 1945. He took out an amateur rider’s licence under National Hunt rules at the age of 16 and had his first ride in public on his mother’s horse Tarky Town at Lingfield on December 8, 1961, finishing last of seven in a handicap hurdle. He rode Tarky Town twice over fences at Newton Abbot’s 1962 Easter meeting, finishing second on the Saturday and third on Easter Monday. At the start of the 1962/63 season he rode Tarky Town to win handicap chases on successive days, landing the Parkin Memorial Cup at Devon & Exeter on Wednesday, August 8 and following up over course and distance 24 hours later.
Stepped up in trip from two miles to three, they came close to repeating the feat at the next Devon & Exeter fixture two weeks later, finishing second, beaten a length and a half, to David Bassett’s mount Dark Venetian on the Wednesday, then winning an amateur riders’ handicap chase on Thursday.
Another horse in the Brackenbury string was Turmoil. He’d been a decent campaigner in his younger days when trained in Cumbria by Tom Hudson and ridden by his son John. He’d won the Eider Chase and was then purchased by Mt & Mrs Geoffrey Kohn, owners of Grand National winner Sundew, and sent south to be trained by Alec Kilpatrick, for whom he won Cheltenham’s Golden Miller Chase in 1959. However, he subsequently appeared to lose his confidence and his form tailed off badly, either falling, pulling up or finishing last.
Mrs Brackenbury bought him in 1961 and trained him, along with her other horses, on the moors, often accompanied by a pack of dogs. To aid Turmoil’s ageing legs, she hit upon the idea of standing him in the cold Dartmoor streams. The horse forgot he was a racehorse and thrived in his new environment.
John rode Turmoil in some big races in the 1962/63 season, including the Hennessy Gold Cup, Wincanton’s Badger Beer Chase, in which he finished third, beaten less than three lengths, and in the four-mile one-furlong Sunday Express Chase at Cheltenham.
Turmoil ran eight times for the Brackenburys the following season and rewarded them for their patience by giving 18-year-old John a winning ride in the three-mile Lewes Handicap Chase at Plumpton on January 22, 1964. He was perhaps fortunate to win, as Stan Mellor’s mount Pioneer Spirit was in front when falling two out and bringing down David Mould on second-placed Vain-Wax.
By coincidence, HMS Turmoil was docked in Plymouth at the time, and a good number of the crew backed Turmoil in that Plumpton race. So, the following Saturday they hired a bus from Plymouth to the Ring o’ Bells at North Bovey and had a rollicking night at the Brackenburys’ pub celebrating the horse’s victory.
Turmoil ran a total of 20 times for the Brackenburys, his final outing being at Wincanton in October 1964. He lived to a ripe old age before succumbing to a heart attack.
John, meanwhile, continued to ride in races throughout the 1960s. He had just one more winner, Tartan Muse in a Devon & Exeter novices’ hurdle on August 3, 1966. He eventually took over the running of the Ring o’ Bells from his parents.
John’s brother, Ian Travis Brackenbury, also rode under National Hunt rules in the mid-1960s, though less often and without riding a winner.
John Brackenbury’s winners, were, in chronological order:
1. Tarky Town, Devon & Exeter, August 8, 1962
2. Tarky Town, Devon & Exeter, August 9, 1962
3. Tarky Town, Devon & Exeter, August 23, 1962
4. Turmoil, Plumpton, January 22, 1964
5. Tartan Muse, Devon & Exeter, August 3, 1966
