Family mourns ‘unique’ jockey
STEVEN Wise says his family has not come to terms with the death of his daughter’s long-term partner, jockey Chris Caserta – and “I don’t know when we will”.
Mr Caserta’s body was found 200m offshore near the sand pumping jetty in Main Beach at 8.45am on Friday.
He went missing at 10pm Wednesday after going for a swim with friend Amy Graham and getting caught in a rip. Ms Graham told the Bulletin on Friday that she frantically tried to save him, but they kept getting “dunked over and over and over again”.
Mr Wise, a horse trainer in Murwillumbah, said the past three days had been “horrendous”.
“It is something we haven’t come to terms with yet and I don’t know when we will.
“It is something pretty horrendous that happens in the world but you don’t think it will happen to you and when it does you can’t believe it.”
Mr Wise said his daughter Brittany, who had been in a relationship with Mr Caserta for two-and-a-halfyears, was “not really good but that is to be expected in the circumstances”.
The trainer revealed the family was notified of Mr Caserta’s disappearance late Wednesday night.
“You just lose track of time when these things happen,” he said.
“We were immediately down by the beach for the last day-and-ahalf. We have spent our time down there communicating with police, search and rescue and everyone else.
“We were hoping and praying that he may have been found alive.”
Mr Wise and Mr Caserta first crossed paths in Albury, NSW, where the jockey rode for his stable.
It led to the start of his relationship with Brittany Wise. Mr Caserta moved to Queensland at the end of last year after completing his jockeys apprenticeship.
“He wasn’t just a typical jockey,” Mr Wise said.
“He was unique. He had an amazing personality and he was caring. He was honest and genuine.”
Mr Caserta’s last race win came on November 13 at the Gold Coast on Gem Of The Lochs, a horse trained by Mr Wise. It was his second straight win on the horse.
Gem Of The Lochs raced again on Friday at Ipswich. It finished fourth: “We weren’t going to run her but after thinking about it and talking with the family we decided to go ahead,” Mr Wise said.
“Chris desperately wanted her to race because she is going for a thirdstraight win.
“In Chris’ honour we (decided to) run her.
“He wasn’t going to be riding her. He took himself off her because she was going up in weight considerably after her last win so Chris did the right thing and told us to put an apprentice on so they could claim some weight and take some of the load off.”
The Queensland Jockeys’ Association has arranged for black armbands to be worn across the weekend in honour of Mr Caserta.
Racing Queensland said the tragedy was being felt across the entire racing community.