Vale Jamie Searle
Jamie Searle, a journalist for 34 years and founder of the Facebook page Southland Thoroughbreds, died in Mosgiel on Thursday.
Searle maintained his dedication to those involved with Southland thoroughbred racing despite illness this year. The 61-year-old suffered a stroke late in February and he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer after being admitted to Dunedin Hospital. He continued work from hospital, home, hospice and rest home. His last postings were the day before he died.
He established Southland Thoroughbreds in 2020, while he was a journalist at the Southland Times. He had specialised in horse racing – harness, thoroughbred and greyhounds – for 28 years and was concerned at the reduced coverage in the newspaper.
Searle joined the Southland Times in his home city of Invercargill as a racing reporter in December 1986 under the racing editor Don Wright.
“We are Catholic and when I was 10 to 12 years old, local St Mary’s parish priest, Father McCarthy used to visit my family early afternoon on a Saturday,” Searle recalled. “This was in the late 1970s.
“Dad and Father McCarthy could have a beer and turn on the radio to listen to the races and race results, which were on the hour or half-hour.
“It didn’t take long before I took a liking to the sport. The race commentators interested me and led me to getting the Turf Digest and finding a small field to call a race. I got hooked on calling virtually straight away.
“I was getting the Turf Digest and for privacy, sat on the toilet seat at home and commentated races from the race book.
“Then mum bought me a racing game, Escalado – six horses at the top of a narrow mat, and I would keep turning the handle at the other end to bring them to the finish line. Each time, I would give the horse a name and give a commentary.
“Mum took the family drycleaning to business owner Laurie Officer, a trotting owner-trainer, club official and Ascot Park consortium member when I was about 17. She told him about my commentating. Laurie said he would give me workouts to call at Ascot Park and see how I went.
“He introduced me to Gil Shirley (harness trainer-driver) and Peter Burns (secretary for clubs) and I soon became back-up workout caller.
“I was working at a supermarket in the storeroom in 1984 when Des Coppins of Friday Flash contacted me to see if I would like to be a Southland contributor and I jumped at the opportunity.
“I continued to call at workouts and did two on-course-only betting meetings at Forbury Park for the Tuapeka Trotting Club.
“I was offered a job a racing reporter at the Southand Times in 1986 by the Racing Editor Don Wright.
“I left the Southland Times in 2001. I set up the website Home Straight, focusing on Southland’s three racing codes. I closed the site down after seven months to look after Mum, who had cancer. I returned to my old job at the Southland Times in 2002.”
Searle worked as a racing reporter for 28 years before he shifted to general reporting.
He was inducted to the New Zealand Trotting Hall of Fame in the early 2000s for his contribution as a journalist. He resigned from the Southland Times in 2022 and put his heart and soul into Southland Thoroughbreds.
Searle was fond of Ascot Park, the venue for all three codes at Invercargill. A piece of lawn there has been named after him and some of his ashes will be scattered there.
He was to be cremated at a private service on Saturday. A graveside service will be held at the Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill at a date to be confirmed.
He is survived by his partner of the past three years, Lynley Bridgman.
