{"id":841571,"date":"2025-11-03T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=841571"},"modified":"2025-11-04T11:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T09:48:08","slug":"two-south-africans-who-bought-a-horse-for-r15000-and-made-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/841571\/two-south-africans-who-bought-a-horse-for-r15000-and-made-millions\/","title":{"rendered":"Two South Africans who bought a horse for R15,000 and made millions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Henry and Patricia Devine bought Jet Master for R15,000. It was an incredible investment. It won numerous races and earned millions for its owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horse racing journalist Mike Moon recalled the story of Henry and Patricia Devine attending an auction at the Mare and Weanling Sale in Pietermartizburg in 1995.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patricia Devine spotted the bewildered colt standing in a box away from the sale racket, and she instantly fell in love with the horse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband did not share her enthusiasm about the horse, but agreed to bid up to R10,000 for the colt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When bidding exceeded R10,000, Henry would not go further. However, Patricia grabbed his arm and forced him to bid R15,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Henry was furious about having to pay R15,000 for a horse he did not like, it turned out to be the best investment he ever made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terrance and Tony Millard shared Patricia Devine\u2019s enthusiasm about Jet Master, and they started to train the colt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Jet Master had difficulties in training, including breathing issues which needed surgery, it performed exceptionally well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an exceptional racehorse which won 17 races and placed 5 times from its 25 starts.  Seven of the wins were at the group 1 level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jet Master retired to stud in 2001 and had his first crop of foals on the ground in South Africa in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He won Horse of the Year in South Africa on two occasions and was the Champion Sire of South Africa for 7 seasons between 2002 and 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turf Talk reported that of his 658 foals to race, 512 (78%) found the winners\u2019 enclosure at least, and 75 (11%) were stakes winners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jet Master died from complications associated with the West Nile Virus that he contracted just before the start of the 2012 breeding season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Thoroughbred Breeders Association of South Africa (TBASA) described Jet Master as the \u201cmost successful South African-bred stallion to have ever stood in this country\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jet Master made millions for Henry and Patricia Devine<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Henry Devine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jet Master generated millions through its race winnings, which include winning the Queen\u2019s Plate twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also won the Cape Argus Guineas, the Keith Hepburn Champion Stakes, the Golden Spur, the Nissan Challenge, and the Kwazulu-Natal Breeders\u2019 Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jet Master also finished first in the Cape Flying Championship, Hawaii Stakes, and the Mercury Sprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the stallion retired from racing in 2001, he was sent to Highlands Stud. His initial covering fee was just R12,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After two seasons, he was moved to Klipdrift Farm, where the covering fee rose to R200,000 at his peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although no official fee is available for Jet Master\u2019s combined race winnings and covering fees, it is undoubtedly many millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henry Devine, which became known as Mr Jet Master due to the success of this stallion, passed away in 2022 at the age of 100.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Henry and Patricia Devine bought Jet Master for R15,000. It was an incredible investment. It won numerous races and earned millions for its owners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":841659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9880],"tags":[23970,23971,23972],"class_list":["post-841571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wealth","tag-henry-and-patricia-devine","tag-jet-master","tag-tony-millard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841571"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":841895,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841571\/revisions\/841895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}