The Pogues were one of my favourite bands growing up so when the chance arose one night in 2003 to meet Shane MacGowan in Belfast, I knew I had to take it. I'd never got to see his band live and I thought he'd be dead soon as his hell raising looked like it had finally caught up with him. Somewhat ridiculously, he was scheduled to DJ in The Front Page on Donegall Street so I scraped together whatever money I could for bus fare and drink, met up with some friends and we made our way there. Naturally, MacGowan was at the bar surrounded by people. I made a beeline for him. He had taken to a wheelchair at that time (apparently he didn't even bother trying to DJ). In my head, I had Christy Moore's words from the end of his version of Fairytale Of New York on the Live At The Point album. I gave him a hug then kissed him and shouted in his ear "I love you, Shane". It takes some doing to be drunker than Shane MacGowan but that was me. I don't know what I expected but I didn't expect him to say "Men shouldn't kiss men". "I've never seen The Pogues" I explained. "I've never seen The Pogues either" he replied and that was it. Never meet your heroes.
That's not the reason this interview was done remotely.
I heard about Louise Osmond's documentary Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story Of Dream Alliance on Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on BBC 5 Live. It was movie of the week. Quite a feat considering the host had no interest in horse racing whatsoever. Dream Alliance was a horse I was aware of and had almost certainly backed at one time or another but I had no idea of his amazing story. I watched the documentary and thought it was one of the greatest tales of achievement I'd ever seen or heard.
The woman at the heart of the story is Janet Vokes. She took what she knew about breeding budgies and applied it to breeding a racehorse. "
My husband has had a love affair with horses all his life but my first purchase was Rewbell, a 13 year old thoroughbred mare. She liked the good life, plenty of food and chill time in the field. Carrying a jockey was not her idea of fun. She had no intention of winning a race, it was her job to get the jockey off. I purchased her in 1999 got to know her over the year and put her to Bien Bien in 2000. The beautiful Dream Alliance was born in March 2001. Dream lived up to his name and his story is well documented. He has retired to Somerset where he has a relaxed life being lightly ridden and kept in shape".
If you want to know a way of getting into racehorse ownership without any money or any racing background, here's your template. Seek out the documentary. Buy the book.
Dream Horse, the book written by Janet Vokes, tells the story not only of "The allotment horse who became champion" but also the story of his mother and his brother. "We had Rewbell for 10 years, sadly she died after giving birth to a lovely colt foal by Beat All called Yanto. Rewbell was a joy to have around and I was truly blessed to have owned her. We hand reared Yanto a real character with a mind of his own. Yanto was with us for 4 years, we had him broken in and ready to go but sadly an accident loading him ended his career and he had to be put down".
Arguably, Janet is closer to her horses than most breeders so after breeding Dream Alliance and hand rearing poor Yanto, how does she feel about Jockeys using the whip on her horses - "Sending my horses to a training yard, I would imagine is like sending your child to a boarding school you have to trust these people (that's why we go to Phillip Hobbs). I wouldn't like my horse to endure an over zealous whipping the odd little tap to keep the horse focused is enough".
After the highs and lows of Dream Alliance and Rewbell, there was another crushing blow to come for Janet, her husband Brian and the syndicate of 20 odd local punters who funded the Dream with a tenner a week. "In 2013 I purchased Juwireya, a 6 year old mare. She stole my heart (from the moment I laid eyes on her). She gave birth to a beautiful colt foal in 2015 and 6 months later, I loaned her to the syndicate to race for a season. She won for them but she had an accident racing and fractured her leg. She was way to precious to part with so (we sent her) off to Bristol (to get) plates and screws inserted (in the injured leg) and Juwireya aka Hettie returned home".
The main reason for the purchase of Hettie was to breed another racehorse. "Rodders was not related to Dream but they could have been twins with 4 white feet and blaze. Impossible Dream (Rodders) was broken in, put out on grass, returning to us (in) early November 2017 for the winter".
Rodders returned to his mother at the Vokes allotment "But on 26th November at 6am some mindless person set fire to our stables killing our beautiful boy and left Hettie with horrific burns. Our Vet, Ron William's and his daughter Sara took control and after 3 months treatment and TLC, Hettie made a full recovery".
No one has ever been caught for this evil act on helpless animals. "I feel sad for people who have never experienced the joy of having these wonderful animals in their lives. The only down side is losing them. The heartache is almost unbearable especially to lose them in such horrific circumstances. The culprits didn't leave any forensic evidence and even though the police were 99% sure they couldn't make any arrests, I just pray karma catches up with them at some point in their lives. After so much heart break people ask me how can I keep going but I love my horses, they keep me going I couldn't imagine life without them".
I first spoke to Janet in January this year ahead of Cheltenham. I hoped we might meet there and I could get an interview. I just assumed everyone associated with horses would be there. I'd followed Janet's story from afar since watching the documentary and read about the horrific stable fire but didn't realise that if everything had gone right, Impossible Dream could have been running at Cheltenham 2019. Another little reminder of the heartache. It was too painful for Janet to attend the festival.
At the same time, there was some incredible news brewing that I'm delighted to say I was privy to from our first conversation. "Hettie gave birth to a beautiful filly Elsie who will go by the racing name Pheonix Dream". Out of the ashes of tragedy Hettie has shown the same determination and will to carry on that has also characterised Janets life. The daughter of a South Wales Miner known as "Kelly", they fell out when she married Brian Vokes whose nickname is "Daisy". They made up over time and he took a great interest in the career of Dream Alliance, the racehorse Janet bred from the knowledge of breeding Budgies her dad passed on to her.
An interviewers final question might be to find out who the subject would like to play them in the film of their life. This has already been decided as Toni Collette, star of Muriels Wedding, Little Miss Sunshine and Hereditary is playing Janet Vokes in the movie, Dream Horse, due to be released next year.
"I have also bought a new filly - A Little Faith aka Daisy. She is going to Martin Jones to be broken soon and will hopefully race until Elsie is old enough then Daisy will become our next brood mare. Daisy is by Garswood out of a Sakee mare. I would like her to go down the jumps route I don't really follow flat racing but only time will tell. Martin Jones will tell us her prospects if any". The desire to do it all again burns bright like the spirit of the Miners.
Janet and Dream Alliance are one of the main reasons I joined the Gordon Elliott Racing Club. I've always dreamed of owning a racehorse and that documentary and now the book are so inspirational. I'm always interested in ways of getting more and more involved in racehorse ownership. Janet has experienced all sides of being part of a syndicate and is well placed to understand what the perfect syndicate or racing club might look like - "Our syndicate is a little different, we have our horse from birth to the end of it's racing career and beyond so we are like extended family watching our youngster grow so all members have to have patience and the horses welfare at heart. I'm glad to say our syndicate has lived through all the ups and downs looking for that light at the end of the tunnel hopefully Elsie will reward them. They're my ideal syndicate".
The Incredible Story of Janet Vokes' racehorses will hopefully continue with A Little Faith and Pheonix Dream. Time will tell if either or both can be anywhere near as successful as the first progeny. "It's lovely to know that people take the time to follow our story. It has been a journey of great highs and the deepest of lows each one has played its part in making us who we are today with regards to race horses". To meet your hero is one thing but to be able to interview one of my heroes is a dream come true.
Dream Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance – the Allotment Horse who Became a Champion by Janet Vokes is available in bookshops and online.
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