Jack de Bromhead has been remembered as a “one of a kind child” who made a huge impression on everyone he met.
The 13-year-old son of leading horse trainer Henry de Bromhead died in a "freak accident” during a pony race at the Glenbeigh Racing Festival in County Kerry.
Jack was competing in the flapper races on Rossbeigh Beach when he fell from his horse.
He was treated at the scene but was later pronounced dead.
Henry de Bromhead was recently granted the freedom of Waterford City due to his success on the racetrack and on Newstalk Breakfast this morning, former Waterford Mayor Damien Geoghegan said Jack was “the star of the show” at the ceremony.
“He was looking after the trophies, showing them off and posing for photographs with people and he just made an enormous impact on everybody present,” he said.
“He really was the star of the show that day and he was so proud of Henry and indeed Henry and Heather and the family, Mia and Georgia, they were so proud of Jack as well.
“The journalists were very taken with him as well and chatting to him and you know, we’re just devastated here in Waterford to hear that Jack has died so tragically over the weekend.”
He said there are no words for the sadness and shock in Waterford since the accident.
“We here in Waterford, we have basked in the reflected glory that Henry has brought to Waterford and as Austin Gleeson the Waterford hurler said it yesterday, the people of Waterford will be there for the De Bromhead family,” he said.
“I can only imagine what the family is going through now. His grandparents, his parents, his twin sister and his younger sister Georgia.
“It is devastating what has happened. A young fella doing what he loved most. Steeped in horses.”
In a statement, the de Bromhead family said Jack was a “one-of-a-kind child who touched all our lives in the best way possible.”
“He will be forever present in our lives,” they said. “Always cherished, always loved, frozen in time with a beautiful young soul.
“He was an amazing son who told us he loved us every day - an over-brimming heart of loyalty, empathy, patience, pluck, courage and how he made us laugh.”
Jack’s funeral will be held at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Butlerstown tomorrow afternoon.
