Makybe Diva
No cars were moving. No-one walked the streets. On the afternoon of Tuesday 4 November 2005, Port Lincoln looked like a ghost town.
Some 15,000 people live in South Australia’s tuna capital and on that day all of them were in front of a television or glued to a radio, fixated on the running of the 145th Melbourne Cup.
The race that stops a nation had mesmerized a town, and it was because the people of Port Lincoln felt – and still feel – a special bond with a very special horse.
Australia’s supermare, Makybe Diva, has never stepped hoof in South Australia let alone Port Lincoln but she’s forever a part of the town as much as the tuna on which it survives.
Makybe Diva stands in thoroughbred history as a legend – the only horse to win three Melbourne Cups.
Thousands of people who have never been to a race course in their lives will be able to tell you where they were to watch the 2005 Melbourne Cup to see if Makybe Diva could make the impossible possible.
Certainly everybody in Port Lincoln could, and much of that is due to the generosity and spirit of Makybe Diva’s owner, Tony Santic, who made his fortune fishing for tuna.
Tony and his wife Christine brought all three Cups out and visited every front bar and old folks home in Port Lincoln. Anyone could drink champagne from one of the Cups and have a chat.
“Their open-hearted generosity was amazing and they shared their success with everyone.
“There have been some critics who’ve said Makybe Diva has never been here but her owners lived here and shared her with the entire community – and Port Lincoln will have that connection forever.”
It’s a connection which is unique.
When Tony was stuck trying to find a name for his new filly he passed the problem over to five ladies who worked for him in Port Lincoln.
Not finding anything inspirational in the horse’s bloodlines, the ladies clipped letters from their own names -
Maureen Dellar, Kylie Bascomb, Belinda Grocke, Dianne Tonkin and
Vanessa Parthenis.
A legend was named and a link was forged.
