jamie searle

[the galah]

i know theres a thread on the galloping chat part of this site,but i thought i would just comment on the harness site,as mr searle was someone who contributed so much to the harness sport.

while i didn't know him personally,i felt  he took particular pleasure in promoting what i often refer to as, the people who come from the grass roots level of the industry.

in his role as a racing reporter,he appeared very well aware that people who are involved in harness racing,do so for the love of the sport,the love of the animal and the interaction of people from different walks of life,but mainly made up of hard working class people.

I think the reason he could relate to that so well,was because thats who he was..

every story he wrote would have been valued immensly by those who were the subject matter.Everyone likes reading an article about themselves and he happened to write a couple about our horses .I still occasionally look back in the scrap book that mum used to keep..He actually wrote one about a horse we had running in a couple of days,as his lead racing story one time ,in which he said we were going to win and he gave a few comments from us. i remember going to the local store and buying 2 copies of the southland times as it was so unusal for us to get something like that. Turned out we won and still paid a big dividend.From that day on,he was someone who always seemed to go out of his way to say hullo if passing.On a racecourse you can't be stopping to say hullo to everyone that you may have met a handful of times as you would be stopping all the time,and i could never do that myself but he just seemed an unassuming fella who was wanted you to feel welcomed in the southland province.

i think who he got to train or care for the horses he owned was also a reflection of the type of  people with whom he felt very comfortable with.

for a few years there, i would go down to the local library to fill in my lunch break and read the southland times racing page for which mr searle wrote and also the otago times as they had such good racing reporters.

Actaully mr searle was a typical southlander. Theres something about southlanders and how they are so friendly,kind and generous to others,that is not found in the bigger cities.

as an aside i've found it interesting how his death has been covered or how people have reacted .The harness racing industry,maybe even just people in general, seem to focus on people that are high profile and which they don't really know that well and just overlook the people that surround them and the impact of their loss on those around them.Like i was talking to someone the other day who said they watched the greg sugars funeral and  said he knew many that did.Nothing wrong with that,but why are people who may never have spoken to someone,drawn to that instead of the impact of someone more familiars death.Anyways,i'm getting of subject. But jamie searle was a really nice man and its very sad hes passed on.

Edited May 26 by the galah