- Tony Santic
Tony Šantić (
October 17 ,1952 inLastovo ,Croatia ) is a notedAustralian thoroughbred owner andtuna farmer. He came to Australia with his family in1958 when he was 6 years of age. His parents settled inGeelong, Victoria for the next 8 years before Tony & his mother moved toPort Lincoln . [cite web
url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21678648-11088,00.html
title=Santic boys quit tuna firm | Herald Sun
publisher=www.news.com.au
accessdate=2008-03-27
last=
first=]Early life
Tony Šantić started with a leaky boat, fishing for the prized orange roughie in
Tasmania , then gaining initial success in tuna fishing atPort Lincoln . Times were slightly tough in the early 1990s, when tuna quotas were reduced twice, sending a number of related businesses into financial hardship and shutting down others. It was a minor struggle for Tony to prevent the bank evicting him and his children from their Port Lincoln home only 12 years ago.Tuna farming turned around the economics of tuna fishing about seven years ago, enhancing the fortunes of the Santic family even more. Now Tony's Tuna International is the second biggest tuna farming operation in Port Lincoln. Slightly lower than usual times in the tuna industry, in 1997, Tony decided to pursue his interest in horses and racing, which, at first, was just a hobby but is now a business.
The colours of his forebears' country, Croatia, gave him the colours for his
livery , royal blue and white stars and red and white checks.Tony keeps his horses at a large stable property called Smytzers Lodge. The name 'Smytzer' owes a lot to Australian humour. The story goes that fellow fisherman Sime (Sam) Sarin working with Tony on a tuna poling boat in the early days of tuna fishing coined the name for Tony's car, an old Valiant Pacer or Bitzer, hence `Smytzer'.
Makybe Diva
Tony bought an in-foal brood mare called Tugela at the Tattersall sale. The subsequent foal, a filly, failed to attract a bid at Newmarket, so Tony decided to bring her to Australia and eventually sent her to David Hall. Tony asked his staff at his Port Lincoln office to name the foal. The women took the first two letters of each of their Christian names and
Makybe Diva was born—thanks to Maureen Dellar, Kylie Bascomb, Belinda Groske, Dianne Tonkin and Vanessa Parthenis. Tony's base for his horse racing business is Smytzer's Park nearGeelong in Victoria.In August 2005, Makybe Diva was named Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year at award ceremonies in
Melbourne . She was also awarded the titles of Most Popular Racehorse and Champion Stayer (over 2200m). On22 October , 2005, Makybe Diva won the 2040m W S Cox Plate at Melbourne's Moonee Valley racecourse. With this victory, Makybe Diva became the first horse in Australasian racing history to claim three Melbourne Cups and a Cox Plate.On
1 November ,2005 , Makybe Diva won her thirdMelbourne Cup in a row - the first horse in history to achieve this feat. Comparisons are now being made withPhar Lap , a legendary Australian horse who achieved fame in the 1930s.References
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