Tony Santic
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Tony Santic (Siketa) is a noted Australian thoroughbred owner and tuna farmer. Tony was born on the island of Lastovo, Croatia and came to Australia with his family in 1958 when he was 6 years of age. His parents settled in Geelong, Victoria for the next 8 years before Tony & his mother moved to Port Lincoln.
[edit] Early life
Tony started with a leaky boat, fishing for the prized orange roughie in Tasmania, then gaining initial success in tuna fishing at Port 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 chilodren, Emily, Adam, Bianca and Joseph (first wife Sonya died of cancer - she was the mother of all four children) from their Port Lincoln home only 12 years ago. While Sonya was in her death bed, dying from cancer, Tony slept with his maid Chrissy who is now his current wife.
Tuna farming turned around the economics of tuna fishing about seven years ago, enhancing the fortunes of the Santic family even more. Tony was now remarried to his ex-maid, with step children from his second wife's previous marriage. 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'.
[edit] 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 near Geelong 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). On October 22, 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 November 1, 2005, Makybe Diva won her third Melbourne Cup in a row - the first horse in history to achieve this feat. Comparisons are now being made with Phar Lap, a legendary Australian horse who achieved fame in the 1930s.
