Although beaten into second place on See You Soon in Saturday’s Golden Gift, Jean Van Overmeire was awarded the “ride of the day” by several experienced observers.
Having her second race start, See You Soon was one of only five fillies to contest the $1 million feature. She’d been tremendously impressive in winning the Kirkham Plate at Randwick on October 26th, when she stormed home to beat Dame Giselle in a six horse field.
She drew thirteen of fourteen in the Golden Gift, prompting trainer Jean Dubois to ask Van Overmeire to go back at the start. The filly was in front of only two rivals nearing the hometurn, but Jean was able to navigate a shortcut between horses which looked likely to put him right into the race.
There was ample room when the jockey attempted a run between Itzhot and Vucetich, but all that changed when the former ducked in suddenly. For a fleeting second Itzhot looked likely to carry See You Soon onto the heels of the tiring Vucetich.” There was a decent bump and it cost me momentum at a crucial stage”, said Jean. “We should have finished closer to the winner”.
See You Soon and Dame Giselle have clashed twice for a win apiece and both have accumulated sufficient prize money to guarantee inclusion in the Golden Slipper field.
Image courtesy Bradley Photos - See You Soon finishes fast to beat Dame Giselle in the Kirkham Plate 26/10/2019.
Dame Giselle is a strapping filly with a wonderful race day attitude. She paraded on Saturday as though she’d been to the races a dozen times. See You Soon is the smaller of the two, but is equally professional.
Jean Van Overmeire is trying to put a horror year behind him. He spent a total of eight months on the sidelines as the result of two freakish accidents, neither of which were attributable to race falls. “The first occurred when I was leading one of Bjorn Baker’s horses to the hosing bay early this year”, recalled Jean. “The horse was spooked by a nearby motorbike and as he pulled back, he gave my hand an awful wrench. The fingers bent back almost to my wrist. Four pins had to be inserted, two of which remain to this day. Recovery time was almost four months”.
He actually returned to race riding for three weeks during May and won a handful of races including two at Randwick on the promising Renewal for Team Hawkes.
Image courtesy Bradley Photos - Jean wins on Renewal for Team Hawkes Randwick 25/05/2019.
With his confidence returning rapidly, Jean was in good spirits as he prepared to canter a filly from the Baker stable on the Warwick Farm sand one morning. “A horse came from behind and lashed out as it got past me”, said Van Overmeire. “I copped it on the right ankle and knew I was in trouble straight away. I had to be helped off my horse and taken to the ambulance room”.
Jean felt a lot better later in the morning when advised that his x rays revealed no fractures, but by the time he got home, the swelling had increased alarmingly.
The following day he sought the help of orthopaedic surgeon Dr. David Duckworth who ordered further x rays. Jean was devastated to learn that he’d sustained a crack to the fibula and two fractures of the actual ankle.
By the time J. Van Overmeire returned to the saddle in August, he’d been absent for eight of the previous twelve months. “In order to restore my reputation I knew I would have to go anywhere to ride a winner’, said Jean.
After only a handful of race rides he was delighted to be invited by Paul Perry to handle the stable runners at the popular Tuncurry-Forster Cup meeting. He won on Divisadero and Fanciful Dream for Perry, while he rode the unplaced Albert Of Monaco in the Cup for Angela Davies - a total of eight rides for the day. “That winning double put me back on the map”, said the jockey. “I’ve ridden another dozen winners since and I’m slowly getting back into circulation”.
Image courtesy Steve Hart Photographics - An important win for Jean. His first winner back from injury was Divisadero for Paul Perry at the Tuncurry/Forster Cup meeting 13/09/2019.
You can understand the curiosity of punters when the name of J. Van Overmeire suddenly appeared in the Sydney riding ranks in the middle of 2016. Here was a rider with a French christian name and a surname with likely Dutch origins.
How were Aussie punters to know that the twenty two year old was born and reared in Bloemfontein, the capital city of the province of Free State South Africa. His father Guy is of Belgian descent, his mother Marty a native South African.
Young Jean was brought up on a farm and had a couple of ponies during his childhood. “I taught myself to ride and became attached to horses very early in life”, he recalls.
The youngster was twelve years old when his father’s job transfer took the family to England. They settled in Suffolk County, a stone’s throw from the iconic Newmarket training centre.
Within months young Jean was enjoying work experience at the stables of the late Michael Jarvis. “I loved the atmosphere of stable life and the constant sight of thoroughbreds around the Newmarket precinct”, said the budding jockey.
A few years later young Van Overmeire became apprenticed to Roger Varian who took over the Michael Jarvis training operation when the respected trainer passed away in 2011.
Jean’s English experience was restricted to just fifteen race rides which resulted in one win at Wolverhampton. “We had to drive 100 miles to the meeting and it rained heavily all the way’, recalled Van Overmeire. “I was accompanied by Roger Varian’s foreman who’s now making a name for himself in Australia. It was none other than Ciaron Maher’s training partner David Eustace”.
Image courtesy Bradley Photos - Jean Van Overmeire in the Woodpark Stud colours.
A chance meeting with South African training ace Mike De Kock, changed the course of Jean Van Overmeire’s life. “Mr De Kock had stables at Newmarket and was looking after horses which were in quarantine awaiting shipment to Dubai”, he explained. “He talked me into going there and doing nothing but riding work alongside some very good jockeys”.
Jean spent the next nine months doing exactly that, gaining valuable experience and making many new contacts. Mike De Kock then sent him to Hong Kong for three months with a very talented galloper called Variety Club. “I got to ride Variety Club most of his work, and received a big thrill when he won the H.K Champions Mile”, said Jean.
Then it was back to Dubai for another six months of intense track work. With every gallop riding many different types of horses, Van Overmeire gained experience that would prove to be an asset wherever he ventured in the future.
During this Dubai stint he got to meet Jack Bruce, who had accepted a job as stable foreman with Bjorn Baker in Sydney. Bruce suggested Jean should give him a call if ever he contemplated a trip to Australia, planting the seed that was to lead the young South African to an exciting new adventure.
When J. Van Overmeire signed on with the successful Baker stable, he was still a long way off riding in races. “I had to shed a massive 10kgs and nobody believed I could do it”, he recalls. “I had a lanky, skinny frame and it was hard to believe another 10kgs would come off”.
Jean succeeded in losing the weight, but then there was the matter of twenty mandatory trial rides. “Bjorn gave me five, and I drove trainers crazy finding the other fifteen”, he said. “I’d wait for the trial fields to come out before ringing trainers whose names appeared on the list’.
Hawkesbury trainer Scott Singleton was the first to give the aspiring jockey a race ride. “I couldn’t get to Cessnock quickly enough to ride a horse called Court Victory for Scott”, recalled Jean “I finished third and it was almost as good as winning”.
Little did the twenty two year old realise that his first winner was only five days away. He won on Our Brown Eyed Gal for trainer Gary Clark at a Sapphire Coast meeting just over three years ago. “I was on my way at last”, said Jean. “A new country, a new life and a new career”.
Almost immediately trainers were seeking the services of the apprentice with the cosmopolitan background. The provincial and country winners started to roll in and before long Jean found himself with rides on the metropolitan tracks.
There was one memorable day at Royal Randwick when he notched a treble for three different trainers, Jean Dubois, Kim Waugh and Kris Lees.
“I couldn’t believe I was in the winner’s circle three times in one day at a place like Randwick”, said Jean.
The young horseman is currently sitting on 181 wins and enjoys the luxury of a 2kg claim. His indentures were transferred from Bjorn Baker to Anthony Cummings as recently as last August, creating yet another adventure in a life which has already been full of surprises.
Anthony allows him to ride work for other Randwick trainers one morning a week and gives him the freedom to attend Rosehill trackwork every Thursday morning. “I jump on one or two for David Payne, Team Hawkes and Gerald Ryan”, he said.
Jean has already had the good fortune to ride some very talented horses including the free wheeling Samadoubt, who currently boasts a record of ten wins and ten placings for $1,058,750. “I won four city races on Samadoubt and enjoyed riding him very much”, said the jockey. “You could feel him getting better all the time. It’s amazing to think he’s won a Group 1 and a Group 2 at Randwick”.
Image courtesy Bradley Photos - One of Jean's four city wins on Samadoubt.
The horse to put a spring in Jean Van Overmeire’s step at the moment is the exciting filly See You Soon, who went straight to the paddock after her outstanding run at Rosehill Gardens. Trainer Jean Dubois indicated after the Golden Gift that See You Soon will have 4-6 weeks off before being prepared for the Slipper on March 21st.
Apart from a natural talent in the saddle, Van Overmeire possesses great communication skills. I’m not about to embarrass the person in question, but I’d like to quote the words of one high profile trainer who uses Jean’s services frequently. “Of all the jockeys I’ve used over the years, none have had a better post-race attitude than Jean Van Overmeire. He’s polite, patient and informative with my owners”, said the trainer in question.
Here is a young horseman who learned to ride bareback in South Africa using a bridle made of bale twine. From there he honed his talent riding a million miles of trackwork in England, Dubai and Hong Kong, three racing countries of enormous influence.
He’s been riding in this country for just over three years, but you can subtract eight months of that for time spent on the sidelines. He ticks all the boxes in his role as a professional modern day jockey. All he needs now is his fair share of good luck.
He reckons he’s used up most of the bad.
(Banner image courtesy Bradley Photos Shot - Jean wins on Aylmerton Canterbury 21/02/2018.)