Caroline Searcy
TDN AusNZ: Where are you from and what is your earliest racing memory?
Caroline Searcy: I’m from Adelaide and as a child would ride my bike to Victoria Park to watch the horses. My earliest memories of particular racehorses were from watching World Of Sport Racetrack on Channel 7 and their racing recaps on a Sunday morning. Think Big’s Melbourne Cups in the early '70s were probably the earliest races I recall and ironically I came to know his owner, the late Dato Tan Chin Nam very well in subsequent years.
Duncan Ramage and Caroline Searcy
TDN AusNZ: Which is your favourite racehorse of all time? Why?
CS: Rancher (Brave Lad {GB}). He was the horse that really made me look forward to his next race from simply hearing him win one of his early 2-year-old contests on the radio. He literally was the “Excitement Machine” as he was labelled, to me, as his 8 wins in a row and then ninth in the, then Ascot Vale S., generated such a thrill, as to follow a horse and have him win and win was just glorious as an early teen. I recorded all of his races and kept clippings of everything he did in a scrapbook and I still remember the passion he generated every time I caught a glimpse of anything to do with him!
TDN AusNZ: Do you have a favourite day on a racecourse? Why?
CS: I would have to say Cox Plate Day at Moonee Valley. It’s been the climax of the spring every year for me since I was young, with the best middle-distance horses, the top 3-year-olds and everything in between that’s excelled coming together in that wonderful cauldron where the majority of the time the champions reach another level. It really is the championship of Australasia and now with an international flavour too. I was fortunate to be part of the team when So You Think (NZ) won his Cox Plates and particularly the first one is a day I really cherish.
So You Think's (NZ) first Cox Plate win is a day Caroline cherishes
TDN AusNZ: Could you tell us how you got into this industry, about your job now and what you love most about it?
CS: I worked in radio from Adelaide to Darwin to Canberra and then into sports reporting in Canberra. From there I worked for Fox Sports as a News presenter for a decade, always making sure I could cover racing stories as often as possible. When the great Ken Callendar retired as race-day host at TVN, the channel that featured NSW and Victorian racing I worked as a race-day host for another decade.
Currently, I fully produce, host and obtain funding for Bred To Win to continue it’s long run on Sky Racing. Bred To Win appears on Tuesday nights on Sky Thoroughbred Central and I try to inform not only those in the breeding industry but people new to racing and breeding about what it takes to breed our wonderful racehorses. The program features stallion profiles and updates on mares and foals plus the latest breeding news about sales and race results and the stories behind them.
As well as organising the filming and doing research for interviews, I also host the show and edit the full program. While I feel very lucky to be able to spend time at our stunning thoroughbred stud farms I equally enjoy the time working to put the finished product together. It is very rewarding when the people you feature are very happy with the resultant story.
TDN AusNZ: Who do you believe to be a value sire for the upcoming breeding season? Why?
CS: I think the Cox Plate winner Adelaide (Ire) is great value at $8,800 (inc GST) at Coolmore Stud. By Galileo (Ire), one of the world’s great influences and obviously a sire of sires, but Adelaide did it in Australia winning that Cox Plate and I know there are some beautiful young horses by him coming through. Prized Icon at Kooringal Stud is another, with his first foals arriving this spring. By wonderful dual-hemisphere sire More Than Ready (USA) from one of Gooree’s strong families and a 2-year-old Group 1 winner who stretched out to win the Victoria Derby. I am a bit of a sucker for a middle distance plus horse that also has a great turn of foot.
TDN AusNZ: Is there a stallion that you consider to be under the radar?, and why?
CS: I think Spieth (NZ) could be a horse who is a bit overlooked by many. He is so like his sire Thorn Park in looks and had brilliant speed and should have been a Group 1 winner. When you look at the job Thorn Park’s few sire sons have done it’s incredible. Ocean Park (NZ) with Kolding (NZ), Tofane (NZ) and more and Jimmy Choux (NZ) with triple Group 1 winner The Bostonian (NZ). Spieth could surprise at a low fee of only $11,000 (inc GST).
Caroline believes Spieth (NZ) might be a stallion under the radar | Standing at Aquis
TDN AusNZ: Which stallion, ever, do you think was the best type?
CS: I probably don’t look at stallions the way a bloodstock agent would as I’m always trying to film them to their best rather than standing back and assessing if I would breed to them. I would have to say the most photogenic horse (and I am probably a bit biased!) and a horse that takes my breath away every time I see him is 10-time Group 1 winner So You Think. He is very typical of the High Chaparral (Ire) breed with the high wither and incredible action and strong straight hindlegs that have a great overstep. And he was a tough, tough horse and very sound which he is throwing into progeny such as up and comer Carif and his Group 1 winners, as well as the huge numbers of runners he has on a daily basis.
So You Think (NZ) | Standing at Coolmore
TDN AusNZ: Which first-season sire do you believe is most exciting?
CS: I do think Arrowfield Stud’s Castelvecchio has a huge amount going for him as a 2-year-old Group 1 winner who went on with it. A son of Dundeel (NZ) from the High Chaparral sireline that can produce a champion, his second in the Cox Plate was world-class. His dam has also produced another Group 1 winner in Maid Of Heaven and he has a great group of supporters to ensure quality mares in his first book. Exceedance at Vinery also has the wow factor and I think Pierata at Aquis Farm and Too Darn Hot (GB) at Darley are also bright prospects.
TDN AusNZ: Who do you think is a rising star within the industry? (Person not horse).
CS: I think there are some sensational young people coming through in the industry such as TDN AusNZ’s own Vicky Leonard! I see in particular a large range of young people on the stud side of things with huge potential such as Gus and Richard Lamont at Wagga Wagga’s Kooringal Stud, James and Jocelyn Daly from the North family’s Bowness Stud and David and Rhiannon Whishaw at Armidale Stud in Tasmania. I’m sure I’ve missed some others but seeing the younger generations showing such initiative within their breeding businesses and with such great passion for the industry, you can see it has a bright future.
Kooringal Stud's Angus Lamont
TDN AusNZ: What positive change would you like to see in the industry?
CS: I am very passionate about the care of thoroughbreds right through their lives, and while I know we are all looking at ways to improve this, the racing and breeding industry must forge greater relationships with the equestrian world if we are to develop better outcomes for our thoroughbreds away from racing. Currently, there’s an assumption in many areas that there are people to take on our horses, and the reality is there just aren’t enough. And many in the general equestrian world really need assistance about the care of the thoroughbred. Our industry will need to take responsibility more and more as our society becomes more metropolitan-based and we need to be ready with the right answers and outcomes when challenged on our welfare progress.
TDN AusNZ: If you weren’t in this industry what would you do?
CS: While I love TV hosting and production I really do love radio and I could easily get back into radio work as it’s such an immediate medium. Certainly, even if it wasn’t focussed on racing and breeding I love working in the media and trying to inform and entertain people about whatever the subject may be. So definitely I hope to be working in a media capacity for a long time to come!
