{{Short description|Australian jockey}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Use Australian English|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox horseracing personality | name = Mark Sestich | nickname = |image= |image_size= |occupation= Jockey |birth_date= {{age|1962|||df=y}} |birth_place= |nationality=Australian |height= |weight= }}
'''Mark Sestich''' is a retired Australian Thoroughbred racing jockey. He is recognized as being one of the most successful jockeys in Perth during the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning four consecutive Perth jockey premierships from 1988/89 to 1991/92.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nickelplay and Grigsby out for Burgess Queen crowning glory in Tuesday's Ascot Melbourne Cup Day feature|url=https://thewest.com.au/sport/horse-racing/nickelplay-and-grigsby-out-for-burgess-queen-crowning-glory-in-tuesdays-ascot-melbourne-cup-day-feature-c-16601894#:~:text=A%202022%20Hall%20Of%20Fame,excess%20of%20a%20thousand%20winners.|work=The West Australian|date=3 November 2024| first=|last=}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |host=Racing WA|title=2022 RWWA Hall Of Fame inductee, Mark Sestich|website=YouTube |publisher=Racing and Wagering Western Australia|date=15 July 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7mrDO616Do|access-date=10 April 2025}}</ref>
Sestich won the first two one million-dollar horse races in Western Australia, the Group 1 Australasian on Fair Sir in 1987, and the Million Dollar Thriller aboard Paklani in 1989. Sestich rode winners for some of Western Australia's most influential figures in horse racing during his career, such as Robert Holmes à Court, Laurie Connell and Sir Ernest Henry Lee-Steere.<ref name=" ses ">{{cite journal |author=Darren McAullay|date= |title=Winners Circle summer 2016 |url=https://www.waroa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/WC-Summer16-LOW-RES.pdf |journal=Winners Circle |location=Western Australia |publisher=WAROA |pages= 29–31 |access-date=7 April 2025}}</ref><ref name=" tich ">{{cite news|title=2022 Hall of Fame Inductee - Mark Sestich|url=https://racingwa.com.au/news/2022/06/30/2022-hall-of-fame-inductee-mark-sestich|work=Racing and Wagering Western Australia|date=30 June 2022|last=RWWA}}</ref> In 1994, he received a six-month suspension from racing, charged with betting on local races.<ref>{{cite news|title=Oliver drama exposes racing's integrity crisis|url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/racing/oliver-drama-exposes-racings-integrity-crisis-20121120-29oiw.html|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=21 November 2012| first1=Richard|last1=Baker|first2=Nick|last2=McKenzie}}</ref> Sestich was forced into an early retirement due to multiple injuries, which included a particularly bad fall during the C B Cox Stakes, in which seven riders lost their mounts.<ref name=" ses" /> In 2022, Sestich was inducted into the WA Racing Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite news|title=Former star jockey headlines three latest thoroughbred inductees to the WA Racing Hall of Fame|url=https://thewest.com.au/sport/horse-racing/former-star-jockey-headlines-three-latest-thoroughbred-inductees-to-the-wa-racing-hall-of-fame-c-6996993|work=The West Australian|date=30 May 2022| first=|last=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Mark Sestich Racing Profile|url=https://www.racingandsports.com.au/thoroughbred/jockey/m-sestich/2366|work=|date=| first=|last=}}</ref>
== Notable wins == Some of his most notable wins include:<ref name=" ses" /><ref name=" tich " /> * WATC Derby (1982), (1989), (1992), (1997) * WA Guineas (1982), (1990), (1993), (1999) * Singapore Gold Cup (1986) * The Australasian (1987) * Karrakatta Plate (1988), (1991) * Million Dollar Thriller (1989) * Burswood Breeders (1989) * Winterbottom Stakes (1989), (1990) * Australian Derby (1991) * Perth Cup (1991)
== References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sestich, Mark}} Category:Living people Category:Australian jockeys Category:Sportsmen from Western Australia Category:1962 births Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen