Jacqueline Fairey was 17 when she told her parents, “All I want to do is work on a farm,” rather than go to university.
Jacqueline Todd with Poppy, 3, her prizewinning Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. On the wall is a photo of Sinndar, an Irish horse she admired which as a three-year-old in 2000 won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Irish Derby and Epsom Derby in the same year and went on to become a successful sire. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
She had finished sixth form at St Peter’s College in Palmerston North and had no intention of using the University Entrance qualifications she had gained.
Her parents insisted she go to Massey University, so she did, begrudgingly.
Ironically Jacqueline (now Todd), 65, who lives in Cambridge, will be admitted to the Bar as a High Court barrister and solicitor tomorrow having spent years studying at the tertiary institutions she wanted nothing to do with nearly half a century ago.
She hated her earlier studies at Massey, passing English but struggled with philosophy.
“I failed all that miserably.”
She left to firstly teach ballroom dancing and care for the horses she finally owned, having wanted animals since she was a little girl and then to become a companion to a woman on a Hawke’s Bay farm.
Other nannying and companion jobs on farms followed, a brief marriage which produced her daughter and then a second marriage to John, recently separated with two children, who had a sheep and beef farm near Waipukurau and was 19 years older than her.
The couple have now been together for 40 years and married for 35.
It was on that Hawke’s Bay farm that Jacqueline discovered a love for academia completing several diplomas and certificates in science, business, rural studies and wool handling as an extramural student via Massey.
“There was also a love of learning. I grew up in a home where academic success was valued and encouraged which I will always be grateful for.
“I knew I had a good brain, but I just wanted to be on a farm and that’s why my parents were so exasperated.” Her two brothers and sister had all done something academic.
Jacqueline also started breeding and rearing thoroughbred horses which brought her in touch with the legendary Sir Patrick Hogan and Cambridge Stud.
She and John bought a 20ha thoroughbred property near Lake Karāpiro in 2000, renamed it Darley Park and so began 16 years of yearling sales, buying mares, planning matings and marketing the horses.
“Then we had a lot of good luck. We just hit the jackpot with a few horses we bred winning big races.”
Maroofity
One was 2002-2003 two-year-old of the year Maroofity trained by Mark Walker at Te Ākau Racing and bought from Jacqueline for $46,000 at the Karaka yearling sales.
“I read the market and I knew horses and I was natural … I worked in with Patrick Hogan and had so much respect for him.”
Fifteen years ago, she decided to return to university, this time at Waikato where she gained a First-Class Honours degree in Sport and Leisure.
She then did a law degree in two years, but so much intensive study put her off going on to do professional law studies plus she and John had sold the thoroughbred farm, moved briefly to Palmerston North and then back to a smaller Karāpiro property. They now live in Pukekura.
To satisfy her craving for study she did some master’s level law papers and then, encouraged by a fellow law student, started the process of admission to the Bar.
“It all seems rather surreal as I seem to have been a perpetual student, while at the same time have the strongest leanings towards farming and horses and all at an age when most women my age look to slow down.”
Poppy
Jacqueline is not looking for a full-time job – she enjoys going to the races and has Poppy, 3, her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who she takes to dog shows where they compete successfully.
“I would now love to find a part-time role which can incorporate my greatest loves – horses, sport and legal research.”
Or she could go back to university, do a PhD maybe?
“I should have done that when I completed my honours in sport,” she says, without dismissing the idea entirely.
Jacqueline Todd has always followed her passion and proven you’re never too old to learn.
Jacqueline Todd and Poppy
