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Selective Seib making waves
Followers of New South Wales racing are becoming used to seeing the name Danielle Seib associated with a winner. And, if she has anything to do with it racegoers will be seeing it a lot more often.
Seib trains a small team at Goulburn with big results. She currently has 24 horses on her books but she says, “there is always room for more”
For the 2021-22 season she saddled 20 winners with a winning strike-rate of 23.3% and is already well on her way to surpassing that this season. That she is successful should come as no surprise to those on the outside, on the inside it is merely regarded as her destiny.
Born into a racing family, Seib’s father Lewis was a gifted horseman. He was a trusted lieutenant in Brian Mayfield-Smith’s team in the heady days of Nebo Lodge in Sydney during the 1980’s, when the Queensland conditioner deposed T.J. Smith as Sydney’s premier trainer in 1985-86 snapping a 33-year winning streak.
After a stint running Kingmaker Stud, Lewis later became stable foreman for successful trainers Jen Butler and Paul Messara before deciding to go on his own in 1999.
Danielle was in pony club from an early age and excelled in the eventing field, often spending a day alongside her father at the Messara’s Arrowfield stables.
As a 20-year-old she rode her first fast gallop for her father and she was smitten. While she had decided she wanted to become a jockey, fatherly advice took over and Danielle enrolled for a teaching degree at Newcastle University.
Then in 2017 fate intervened. Lewis Seib died from an inoperable brain tumour. The first indication of the condition when he collapsed while hosing down one of his horses. “We believe he lost his balance and fell onto the concrete floor,” Danielle explains. “Doctors discovered an inoperable tumour on the brain stem. We lost him only a month later”.
Danielle was determined to keep her father’s Muswellbrook stable in operation, and it was a bittersweet occasion when Danielle won a race at Mudgee just one month after his death with Nic City.
By the middle of 2021, Danielle was feeling the strain of running a stable, combined with the constant travelling to Newcastle University and she made the decision to finish her degree online, graduating last year as a Bachelor of Secondary Education with Honours in Science, majoring in Biology and she now teaches locally at Crookwell High School.
“Dad wanted me to have a professional qualification and after his passing I was even more determined to gain my degree.” Seib says.
The mini fork in the road came when Danielle remembered an offer made to her by Danny Williams when the Goulburn trainer was in Muswellbrook for the Country Championship Qualifier in 2021. “Danny said there was a job in his Goulburn stable should I ever feel like a change,” Seib says.
A three-month stint with Williams at Goulburn rekindled the fire and together with partner Aaron Day, a member of one of Australia’s most successful harness racing families and also an accomplished farrier as it happens, Seib Racing at Goulburn was born.
Having already tasted Sydney success with Assault ’N’ Bathory at Rosehill in 2019 and Randwick in 2020, the very much hands-on Seib is showing no signs of resting on her laurels.
“I ride most of the work myself, and we have two great staffers in Gabby and Simon,” she says. “We’re very lucky staff wise, Gabby is a local girl who didn’t have a lot of horse experience when she came to us but is now up to riding work.
“I like to keep riding myself. Apart from the enjoyment it gives me a better understanding of how they are feeling and how I need to be training them.”
Seib is an unashamed fan of the Goulburn track. “It’s a great place to train,” she says. “From where we are we have several tracks close by to race and it’s an easy trip to Sydney. “We recently had our first runner in Melbourne and that was an easy experience too.”
A feature of Seib’s training is her placement of horses, a necessary skill with a stable mainly of benchmark horses. “I won’t take a horse somewhere I don’t think we can win,” she says. “Of course I know it’s not that easy but it’s something I always keep in mind before we accept with a horse to race.”
Seib feeds Synergy and credits the feed as an integral part of her success. “It’s a terrific feed,” she says. “They hold their condition so well, they carry a great top line. We tend to keep our horses up and racing and they hold their condition and perform consistently.”
Seib is planning on being in Sydney more often later this year with a young horse she has high hopes for. “Associate is a horse I think a bit of. He was only narrowly beaten at his first start at Randwick earlier this month (December). I’ve sent him to the paddock to furnish a bit more but I’d like to think he will come back bigger and stronger.”
Seib purchased Associate as a two-year-old at auction and is looking forward to adding to the stable when the 2023 round of yearling sales kick off in January.
“I’ll be there looking for sure. We have several clients wanting to buy into horses so it’s an exciting time. The family continue to lend tremendous support. Mum has moved back to Scone and is a partner in the business. She does all our admin work which is such a help.”
Given the rise though the training tracks her daughter is making, one suspects Mrs Seib is going to be kept busy.