Family and friends remember jockey Chris Caserta a year after his death
Jockey Chris Caserta used to speak to his father Rob three times a day on the phone. A year on from the late jockey’s death the sombre reality that he won’t call again is still sinking in as friends and family remember the popular hoop.
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Chris Caserta would ring his father Rob three times a day to chat.
And while Mr Caserta’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing today, he would desperately have loved for one of the voices on the other end of the phone to be that of his late son.
Instead the calls have been from friends and family reaching out a year to the day since the Gold Coast-based jockey Chris tragically drowned after going for a late night swim off the Esplanade of Surfers Paradise.
The jockey who was in the water with Chris when he drowned, Amy Graham, has also opened up to the Bulletin about her trauma from the ordeal, saying she is still “f***ing petrified” to go back in the ocean.
Chris’s body was found off the Southport Spit two days after he was reported missing and following a massive air, sea and land search.
“Today has been hard,” Mr Caserta told the Bulletin from his Melbourne home as the likes of world renowned jockey Frankie Dettori pay tribute to the hoop.
“My phone hasn’t stopped. The emotional thing about it comes from how many people he touched. We have had a lot of support from friends and family and it shows the overwhelming affect he had on everyone.”
The Caserta family will close ranks today, choosing to spend it together. Mr Caserta and wife Lucy will be joined by Chris’s twin brother Matthew, sister Amanda, his other brother Thomas, their partners and nephew Leonardo at the family home where they will share lunch and remember the late hoop.
Mr Caserta said the past 12 months had been difficult for the entire family, particularly twin brother Matthew.
“We are devastated but we support each other and we are a close-knit family,” the family patriarch said.
“We miss his cheekiness. He was a bit of a rascal. He would always brighten up the place with his smile.
“The thing I miss the most is him ringing me three times a day. It would be before the races, after track work and after the races.”
Mr Caserta said the family had found a sense of closure in the period since his son’s death, praising the water police for finding his body.
They flew to Queensland to personally thank Senior Sergeant Jay Notaro for their efforts.
But the Caserta family are not alone in taking time to remember Chris and that difficult night 12 months ago. Apprentice jockey Amy Graham barely escaped with her own life after trying to save Chris after venturing into the water.
Ms Graham will return to the scene of the incident today, revealing the trauma she has lived through over the past 12 months.
“I’m doing OK but I have had a few flashbacks today,” Amy said.
“I’m going to get a couple of green balloons, as I know that was his favourite colour, and go to where it all happened to let them go. We all remember Chris in good spirits.
“I’ll just be by myself and remember what happened. I have suppressed it a lot. I haven’t been swimming in the ocean for 12 months because I’m f***ing petrified.
“I was told I should get some help when it happened but I have had so much support around me that I thought it would be fine.
“Over the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about it quite a lot to be honest. It’s all coming back to the surface and it’s been hard. I was trying to forget about how traumatising it was, nearly losing my life as well.”
Ms Graham said she used Chris death as motivation to focus on her riding career and since starting at races around two months ago she has gone on to ride nine winners.
“After Chris passed I used it as motivaiton to pull my s**t together because he was always telling me to do it and that I can do it,” she said.
Caserta’s partner Brittany Wise declined to speak but her father and Murwillumbah-based trainer Steve Wise revealed every day since his death had been painful.
“It’s a very sombre day. It’s difficult and the same as every day,” Mr Wise said.
“He is in our thoughts every day. We not only shared a family relationship but we also worked together every day so everything we do that involves the horses is connected to him.
“It’s 365 days of the same. It is difficult on my daughter and we have been trying to look after her. We are working how what we are going to do to remember Chris.”
Mr Wise said they had daily reminders of Chris at the stables, particularly through Gem Of The Lochs, the horse the jockey had his final win on.
“Gem Of The Lochs was pretty much Chris’ favourite. She is having a spell but she is still there and seeing her every morning tags you to Chris immediately.”
Gold Coast Turf Club CEO Steve Lines said jockeys would likely wear black armbands this weekend in honour of Chris.
“He was a lovely young man and remembered by the whole Gold Coast racing fraternity. We sorely miss him,” Mr Lines said.
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Originally published as Family and friends remember jockey Chris Caserta a year after his death
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