New program manager brings strong thoroughbred background to the role

A strong alliance and an exceptional amount of experience within the Australian thoroughbred industry has placed Caitlin Smith in good stead for her new role as Program Manager for the AgriFutures Thoroughbred Horses Program.

Caitlin’s resume boasts a Bachelor of Animal Science with an honours thesis focused on equine breeding, a two-year international management and leadership course with a prestigious racing and breeding program and being Bloodstock Manager at Michael Freedman Racing.

Her journey within the industry started in north-east VIC where she grew up on a thoroughbred horse racing farm. As a child, Caitlin rode show horses to a national level, helped with track work and general farm chores.

After starting an Animal Science degree at Charles Sturt University in NSW, she quickly grew an interest in scientific research and animal husbandry.

“I was very open-minded as to what I wanted to eventually do and thought an honours degree was the perfect opportunity to broaden my awareness of the agriculture industry.”

“My thesis was on “Risk factors for equine abortions caused by Chlamydia psittaci in thoroughbred mares”, she said.

“The aim was to give stud managers an understanding of the common management practices that might pose as risk factors for Chlamydia psittaci infections in their mares.”

In recent years, the bacteria Chlamydia psittaci has been identified as an important cause of equine reproductive loss.

Caitlin said that her thesis offered practical solutions such as reducing the amount of grain fed to mares and swapping to a non-grain-based diet if possible, and ensuring feed and water troughs were regularly cleaned and away from trees.

Focus on animal health

As Caitlin started her career, she returned to VIC to work as an Animal Health Officer for Agriculture Victoria.

The role allowed Caitlin to implement her university learnings and gain a wider understanding of the livestock industry.

“Its main focus was on disease preparedness, managing potential outbreaks, on-farm animal welfare concerns, and biosecurity, as well as good grounding in stakeholder management,” she said.

“I would often deal with high pressured situations from anthrax outbreaks, bushfires to educating stakeholders on animal welfare and biosecurity issues.”

A global experience leads to local opportunity

After her time with Agriculture Victoria, Caitlin completed a two-year international management and leadership training program – Godolphin Flying Start.

Godolphin Flying Start is a prestigious and highly competitive thoroughbred racing and breeding program and offers just 12 applicants, from around the world, a chance to do the course.

“I studied and worked in five different countries, England, Ireland, the United States, Australia and Dubai, however we never reached Dubai due to COVID,” Caitlin said.

“I graduated with a Graduate Certificate in Management from University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Business School which covered, equine management, nutrition, anatomy, business law, leadership and development.

“The course involved a lot of hands-on experience on some of the leading stud farms, racing stables, sales companies and bloodstock agencies across the world, and it was an amazing experience doing all this while travelling with 11 other people”.

In Australia, Caitlin completed a placement in Sydney with Michael Freedman Racing at Randwick and was subsequently offered a full-time position by Michael Freedman as the stable’s Bloodstock Manager.

“The role involved assisting with the purchase and selection of thoroughbred yearlings but also performing considerable research into bloodlines and sales trends,” Caitlin said.

“My love of statistics and research returned, as I was doing analysis on the various yearlings and sales where we purchased stock.

“I also had quite a bit to do with the training aspect of the business, represented Michael at many races, liaised with owners, compiled data analysis for performance data metrics, and much more.

“All these skills are really important for the project management role I now do,” she said.

Making a mark in today’s thoroughbred industry

Following a well versed and varied career, Caitlin has returned to her grass roots.

“I really wanted to return to the industry in a research, development and extension capacity.

“The AgriFutures Thoroughbred Horses Program Manager role is an amazing opportunity to tie together my industry knowledge and project and research background.”

“Ultimately my goal is to help provide solutions to the industry challenges and to highlight to our levy payers how their money has been used for the benefit of their own enterprises and the industry overall,” she said.

Caitlin highlights the Program’s four priority areas:

• Thoroughbred horse welfare, workforce safety and environmental sustainability
• Thoroughbred breeding
• Workforce, industry and community engagement
• Thoroughbred diseases and parasites.

“My workplace experience in the industry both globally and locally, made me recognise the significant staffing problems, welfare concerns and social licence constraints which are placed on our industry”.

“I’m looking forward to providing both technical expertise and practical guidance in addressing these priorities to help the industry move forward in a productive, profitable and sustainable way.”

For more information, visit the AgriFutures Thoroughbred Horses Program