Farewell to respected horsewoman and jockey, who was also a devoted gardener
Obituary
Jean Traquair Thomson, the former jockey and respected horsewoman died on 3 February, aged 98.
Jean was the most successful Scottish female jockey of her generation, riding 52 winners in point-to-points over 33 seasons between 1946 and 1979.
She was born in Lambden, near Greenlaw in Berwickshire, in 1925. She and her sister Margaret were founder members of the Berwickshire branch of the Pony Club and were regularly seen on the hunting field. Her father Moffat, brother David and nephew Sandy all acted as master and huntsman of the Berwickshire hounds.
After the war, Jean concentrated on breeding ponies, point-to-pointing and gardening, with a special interest in growing and grafting roses.
Her 52 pointing winners may not be many by today’s standards, but ladies’ races were only open to adjacent hunts and some seasons there were only two or three races that she was eligible to ride in. It was not until the mid-1960s that ladies’ races became open to all and ladies were also allowed to ride in members’ races.
Her best season was 1972 when, aged 46, she was leading rider and overall winner in the newly formed Point-to-Point Authority northern area. She achieved this with two horses – the home-bred Border Rag, who went on to be placed at the Cheltenham Festival, and Young Laird, owned by Fiona Meiklejohn (Lochore).
Laird had previously been round Badminton and Burghley, but lost his love for eventing, so went hunting and racing instead.
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In all, Jean won on 16 horses for 11 owners. When she stopped race-riding, she reported on point-to-points for newspapers. She was also a successful showjumper and judged pony classes over many years at shows including the Royal Highland and the Border Union Show.
The garden at Lambden was where she was happiest, having taken charge of it after the Second World War. She carried on running it largely on her own well into her 80s. Her devotion to gardening is captured in the words carved in stone in front of one of the benches in the garden, taken from a poem by Dorothy Frances Blomfield Gurney: “One is nearer God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on Earth.”
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.