Annette Sharp: Does John Singleton have a new woman in his life?

Days after John Singleton revealed plans to sell his horseracing empire, he was enjoying his retirement at a private beach house with a mystery woman, writes Annette Sharp.

Larrikin adman John Singleton at his Strawberry Hill Stud in 2021. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Days after John Singleton revealed plans to sell his horseracing interests at Mount White and retreat from the sport of kings — for the princely sum of $100m — the businessman investor was on Saturday kicking back at a private beach house at Toowoon Bay, enjoying his retirement with a mystery woman.

The sighting has sparked rumours Singleton may have an interest in the luxury Toowoon Bay Rd property, which set a beachfront record for the region when it was sold in December 2021 for $9m. Property records show the buyer’s name as Naganayagam.

Singleton last week told The Daily Telegraph he was looking to buy a beach house in the area.

Linking the property to Singleton is its ownership record.

The house was previously owned by 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley, Singleton’s former Macquarie Radio Network employee and a close friend.

John Singleton has been spotted hanging out on the Central Coast. Picture: Ryan Osland

Hadley’s Raytrack Sporting Service acquired the home in 2010 for $3.5m before selling it in 2016, at a loss, for $3,275,000.

This followed the breakdown of Hadley’s second marriage, to wife Suzanne in 2011, and the listing and relisting of the four-bedroom home, which has proved a popular summer rental, with a $10,000-a-week asking price.

Ray Hadley’s former house set a beachfront record for the region when it was sold in 2021.

Singleton could not be reached for comment about his interest in the house on Saturday, but sources claim he has been staying at the Mark Eastham-designed home, which boasts absolute beach frontage as well as a heated plunge pool and cabana.

As revealed in this column six months ago, Singleton split with his last girlfriend, one-time radio industry sales rep Kim Dennis, at Christmas.

Around the same time he also parted ways with his longtime horse racing trainer Duncan Grimley, who had been in Singleton’s employ for 20 years.

The breakups coincided with the businessman having a clean-out of other longstanding staffers associated with his horse stud, a sign of what was to come.

While Grimley has not been replaced, Dennis, it seems, may have been.

While Singleton refused to identify his new companion last week, the six-times married former ad boss is said to be keeping company with a woman affiliated to Central Coast radio station Coast FM.

The question now is: which woman?

Coast FM director Sarah Warry.

Earlier this year, Coast FM’s station manager Sarah Warry confirmed she had approached Singleton at his Gosford pub the Railway Hotel, given him her card and asked Singleton to come on board as a sponsor, which he did.

Then in February, having been elevated to “patron” of the community radio station, Singleton sat down with community radio reporter Skaie Hull for what some have since described as a flirty interview.

Sources close to Singleton say at 81 the legendary skirt chaser has said he is now primarily interested in the companionship of a beautiful woman, no longer romance.

“He has been planning the stage of his life for a while,” said one friend.

“Nothing John does happens without a lot of thought.

“The Strawberry Hills operation has been a lot of work and a lot of investment for little return for some time.

“He hasn’t had a lot of winners come out of there of late and he does like to win. He’s disillusioned with the industry.”

But his love affair with the Central Coast endures, particularly as Singleton becomes more nostalgic with the passing of the years.

Having owned prestigious beachfront properties at glamorous and much-envied locations from South Coogee to Hawaii, Singleton is open about his plans to live out his final days on the sleepy and still largely undeveloped Central Coast.

It is a region Singleton first fell in love with many decades ago when his father, Jack, a motor mechanic from Enfield, bought a block of land at Killcare.

The bush block in The Scenic Rd remains in the Singleton family and is used by the adman’s septuagenarian sisters, Diane and Heather.

Singleton, meanwhile, continues to own Pretty Beach House, run as a guesthouse, which sits high on the escarpment overlooking the beach on the NSW Bouddi Peninsula.

NEW LOVE FOR BANKER KERRIDGE FOLLOWING TRAGIC LOSS

Keith Kerridge, investment banker, cattleman and widower husband of former TV executive Maureen Plavsic, has found love again with a close friend of his late wife.

Kerridge was said to have been devastated when Plavsic, a one-time Channel 7 executive, died in November 2020 following a brutal battle with cancer.

Among the couple’s investments were Taralga’s highly regarded Argyle Inn and the Bannaby Angus cattle property.

Keith Kerridge.

Charlotte Smith.

Now it emerges that Plavsic’s friend, Charlotte Smith, has stepped into the void.

Fashion blogger Smith, a keen horsewoman, is mother to polo player Olivia de Govrik.

De Govrik is the new face of Bannaby Angus Polo and was last week spruiking the team and Kerridge’s decision to invest in her polo team.

“I saw a great opportunity to involve Keith to showcase country life, skilled horsemen and women who were also farmers, especially in the Goulburn area,” de Govrik told Farm Online.

De Govrik said the polo team had an amazing first year, making it into every final and bettering teams from the district, including one from Kerry Packer’s Ellerston.

Smith has been keeping her fashion fans captivated in recent weeks with her regular Instagram posts of rural life in Taralga, and recent travels through England and Italy and birthday celebrations at Byron Bay in April.

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