Dark Horse

The tale of Louise Osmond’s documentary Dark Horse begins in 1999 when Jan Vokes, a barmaid in Cefn Fforest in South Wales, decides she wants to breed a thoroughbred racehorse. While she’d previously bred whippets and racing pigeons, horses are a completely different game. For one, they’re significantly more expensive to breed and raise. It’s not a pastime for the layperson.
But Jan was determined. She’d gotten married early and had children early and was ready to take a chance on something new. Not only that, she’d never really felt treated like her own person. She’d always been someone’s daughter, sister or wife, and this was an opportunity to do something for herself, as herself.
Jan’s husband, Brian “Daisy” Vokes, was pretty sure his wife had lost her mind, but in the first five minutes of Dark Horse it becomes clear that once she’s got her heart and mind set on something, Jan is not one to take “no” for an answer. Not only that but Brian, a former horse-and-cart driver, bought his first horse when he was 15 and has long had a special connection with animals in general. You get the feeling that convincing him wasn’t the hardest day’s work Jan’s ever done.
Jan and Brian are two of the most colorful and overall lovely human beings you’re likely to find in the world of horse racing. She’s a barmaid and cleaner at the local supermarket, while he’s a heavily tattooed former coal deliveryman and nightclub bouncer with more gums than teeth. An unlikelier pair of thoroughbred horse breeders you’re not likely to find, and a blessing to any documentarian. It’s hard to get enough of them.
Jan also recruits Howard Davies, a local tax consultant who’s had some experience with owning horses and running a syndicate, a form of horse ownership where a group of people buy shares in the steed, thus spreading out the cost of the endeavor. It didn’t turn out so well for Howard in the past, and he—rather, his wife—takes a little convincing.
After buying a 13-year-old mare called Rewbell for £350 (a fee Brian shrewdly negotiates down from £1,000), Jan, Brian and Howard form the syndicate of 23 friends and acquaintances who each buy in, agreeing to pay £10 per week to pay for Rewbell’s upkeep, the eventual stud fees and care for any resulting foal. Half of them think the tenner a week is a worthy investment just to see if it can be done.