Jack Ketch (horse) Jack Ketch (horse) Jack Ketch (foaled 1954 in Ireland) was a thoroughbred racehorse. Raced at age two under trainer Stephen Quirke, son of Irish champion jockey, Martin Quirke, Jack Ketch won the Maher Nursery Handicap. At age three, the colt won three important Irish races including the Classic 2,000 Guineas. In 1958, Jack Ketch was sold to American Allie E. Reuben who raced under the name of Hasty House Farm. Trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer, Harry Trotsek, he made his American debut on 14 July 1958 at Chicago's Arlington Park with a win on turf in
Jack Ketch in 1828. He is mentioned in the Charles Dickens novels "Oliver Twist", "The Pickwick Papers" and "David Copperfield" and in the C. M. Kornbluth science fiction story "The Marching Morons" (1951). More recently, Jack Ketch plays a role in Neal Stephenson's 2003 and 2004 volumes "Quicksilver" and "The System of the World", the first and last volumes, respectively, in his "The Baroque Cycle" series (though the last volume is set in 1714, well after the death of the historical Jack Ketch.) A Jack Ketch character appears in Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book". Jack Ketch is featured as a non-speaking character