Latest news with #ChrisMunce
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Ben Dorries hands out his awards from the 2025 Queensland winter carnival
It's that time of year when racing writer Ben Dorries hands out his version of The Oscars. Our man has identified the best Queensland winter performers and also gone off Broadway for some of the carnival's most quirky and colourful moments. â– â– â– â– â– BEST ACTOR Humble hobby trainer Craig Cousins gets the Tom Cruise award for being the winter carnival's leading man. His home-bred hero The Inflictor may not have won the Stradbroke Handicap. But the story of the truck driving trainer with a handful of horses, one of which qualified for the $3m Stradbroke, will go down in carnival folklore. Cousins trains from stables out the back of his mum's house and he enjoyed every moment of Stradbroke week, even buying himself a new suit for the occasion. After The Inflictor won a Listed race, he went out of his way to thank the media and everyone else for the wonderful magic carpet ride he had been on. A real character and a gentleman. â– â– â– â– â– BEST NEW TALENT When Cool Archie won a couple of two-year-old races at the start of the carnival, it didn't really turn the dial. And there were a few sniggers when Chris Munce nominated the Group 1 JJ Atkins as the winter goal for his young colt. After all, racegoers in these parts are used to local heroes being overrun by big names like Waller and Cummings when they come to town. But he who laughs last, laughs longest. Munce and his son Corey, along with prominent owner Max Whitby, were celebrating when Cool Archie won five straight including the JJ Atkins. Unless Sydney bias kicks in, the sensational youngster should be a lock for Australian 2YO of the year honours. What a run, what a horse â�ï¸� Cool Archie takes out the G1 Ladbrokes JJ Atkins for Team Munce & Martin Harley ðŸ'� — Ladbrokes Australia (@ladbrokescomau) June 14, 2025 â– â– â– â– â– BEST PICTURE When Antino scored the Hollindale Stakes and the Group 1 Doomben Cup by as far as you could kick your hat. Wins the best picture gong as there were literally no other horses in the finish picture on either occasion. Tony Gollan collects training premierships and big races for fun – but this was his crowning moment. Antino can be a quirky horse and turning him from a sprinter-miler into a middle distance/stayer was a magical effort that David Copperfield would have been proud of. Queensland's champion trainer will have plenty of spring fun with Antino, who is the second betting pick in the Cox Plate behind Via Sistina. In case you missed it! Antino was a brilliant winner of the Group One Doomben Cup this morning... 🤯 — At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 24, 2025 â– â– â– â– â– BEST CASTING Young Queensland jockey Angela Jones as a marquee winter carnival performer. The jockey who grew up in outback Queensland might not have won a Group 1, although she did get within a whisker when Zarastro led until the shadows of the post in the Kingsford Smith Cup. But she won five feature races, including for Gai Waterhouse and for the royal blue of Godolphin, and she more than held her own against the big name southern jockeys who ventured north. Won four straight races on Floozie and it wasn't her fault the mare was a beaten favourite in the Group 1 Tatt's Tiara. Should win the Brisbane jockeys' premiership. We will look back at the 2025 winter carnival as being the making of her on the big stage. Floozie brains them in the G2 Dane Ripper Stakes! ðŸ'¥ @tonygollan — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 14, 2025 â– â– â– â– â– BEST PERFORMANCE While Antino and Cool Archie both had claims, the gong goes to Joliestar. The mare's truly incredible triumph in the Group 1 Kingsford Smith Cup had to be seen to be believed. On a day where it was close to impossible to make too much ground from back, Chris Waller 's glamour girl came from so far off them to win that it looked like she had been shot out of a cannon. There was a freeze-frame of the race with 100m or so to go posted on social media, and you deadset would have bet $101 about Joliestar winning. It might not have been a vintage field, but the manner of her win suggested a big spring carnival and potentially redemption in The Everest is coming. An EPIC finish in the G1 Kingsford Smith Cup sees Joliestar nab them right on the line to take her third Group 1! 🤩 @cwallerracing @mcacajamez @BrisRacingClub @RaceQLD — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 7, 2025 â– â– â– â– â– ROCKY BALBOA GOLDEN GLOVES The jockeys' room blue between Noel Callow and Kyle Wilson-Taylor was the bust-up of the carnival. It did what many of the actual races could not – get global headlines. The bad blood had been bubbling for a while but at the end of the day it was probably half a storm in a teacup. It won't be long before 'King' Callow has served his ban and returns to the races. Noel Callow has been banned over an altercation with a rival jockey, a penalty which could be reduced if he completes an anger management course, reports @bendorries76. — Racenet (@RacenetTweets) June 12, 2025 â– â– â– â– â– RISING STAR War Machine was the Stradbroke Handicap favourite from the moment he made a mess of his rivals in the Group 3 BRC Sprint. Some (including me) would say that backing a $3.20 favourite in the Stradbroke is a quick way to the poor house. But War Machine did it comfortably and could be one right out of the box. The late, great Mike Moroney identified him as a must-have horse and he has started to live up to what Moroney always thought he promised. Bring on the spring, as the penny hasn't even dropped yet. War Machine WINS the G1 Stradbroke Handicap! ðŸ�† Tim Clark with a flawless performance in the saddle! — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 14, 2025 â– â– â– â– â– BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Former Irishman Tom Sherry cracked his first Group 1 when he scored the Tatt's Tiara on Tashi and quickly paid tribute to his long-term partner Danika Losty. Losty has been there through Sherry's darkest times – even when he copped a drug ban as an 18-year-old in his Irish homeland. Sherry arrived in Australia without a job and with his passion for racing wavering, but Losty never lost faith and kept urging him to follow his racing dreams even when he was working on a building site erecting temporary fences. Bravo.
News.com.au
03-07-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
‘He told me straight up I had cancer': Sunshine Coast Turf Club's legendary racing doctor Bernie Spilsbury retires
Legendary jockey Chris Munce credits him with being the first person to detect his potentially-deadly throat cancer. Dr Bernie Spilsbury has helped countless other jockeys and trainers and been there for some of racing's magic and also most tragic moments since starting as the Sunshine Coast Turf Club doctor almost four decades ago. The retiring doctor, who has also been a long-time Sunshine Coast Turf Club board member, will get a fitting farewell with the Dr Bernie Spilsbury 3YO Handicap (1000m) named in his honour on Caloundra Cup day on Saturday. Munce, the champion jockey who is now a two-time Group 1 winning trainer, fears what might have been if Spilsbury had not intervened when Munce's 'tonsils were swollen up like golf balls' not long after he rode All Too Hard to be runner-up in Ocean Park's 2012 Cox Plate. 'I rode that horse in the Cox Plate and two weeks later I was brushing my teeth and I saw one of my tonsils was like a golf ball in the back of my mouth,' Munce recalls. 'I went to the doctor and they just gave me antibiotics, I then went back a week later when it hadn't improved so they put me on a stronger dose and it still didn't improve. 'I was at Caloundra races one Sunday and I asked Dr Bernie to have a look. 'Within one second he told me, straight up, that I had cancer. 'It was a lot for me to digest in one afternoon, so I went home in a bit of shock I didn't tell (wife) Cathy or anyone. 'The next morning, Dr Bernie rang my house number and Cathy picked up the phone and it all went from there. 'Thank goodness that Dr Bernie spotted it, because it would have just kept spreading through my lymph nodes and God knows how far it would have got to.' • Guineas bid nod and Winx to Tighe's mighty mare Munce successfully beat cancer and Sunshine Coast club officials say Dr Spilsbury has been instrumental in warning other jockeys about some unusual symptoms that later turned out to be cancer. Sadly, Dr Spilsbury was also there at the scene of a heartbreaking tragedy when jockey Desiree Gill died following a race fall at a twilight meeting at the Sunshine Coast in 2013. 'It was shocking,' Dr Spilsbury recalls. 'I was there and she came down head first. 'I am sure she was dead the moment she hit the ground, but I went to try to work on her to see if she could be saved. 'But in my own heart I knew she had passed away.' Dr Spilsbury has long loved the racing game, breeding horses himself as he followed in the racing footsteps of his father and his grandfather. He is looking forward to heading to Caloundra Cup day on Saturday and hopes he can turn a small betting profit in the race named after him. 'My mantra is, you bet small and you lose small,' Dr Spilsbury said. 'A $6 boxed trifecta is my go and that's what I will be doing on Saturday. 'I am a very low key person, but it is a humbling honour to have a race named after me.' Sunshine Coast Turf Club chairman Peter Boyce hailed Dr Spilsbury's contribution to the club as both a medical professional and a board member. 'He will be missed by us, as he is the most kind and compassionate man I know,' Boyce said. 'His care for fellow human beings is second to none and all done a very low key and unassuming way.'
News.com.au
16-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
2025 JJ Atkins champion Cool Archie is so versatile that trainer Chris Munce isn't sure where he'll end up
'He's probably the best horse that I've ever trained.' Brisbane trainer Chris Munce has never doubted the immense talent of his wonder colt Cool Archie. But the newly crowned JJ Atkins champion is so versatile that Munce is about as muddled about the spring plans for his stable star as rival trainers are in devising a scheme to beat him. Cool Archie has gone to the paddock after an incredible but gruelling campaign that saw him catapult from a maiden win to Group 1 glory in the space of just two months. From the first crop of Newhaven Park-based stallion Cool Aza Beel – a Group 1-winning son of Cox Plate-winner Savabeel – Cool Archie has demonstrated his remarkable versatility in nine career starts. He's won from 1000m to 1600m, racing on and off the speed on both firm and heavy tracks, in the process taking his career prizemoney past the $1.6m mark. 'The world is his oyster because he could be anything,' said Munce, who will attend the famous Royal Ascot Carnival in England this week alongside son and co-trainer Corey Munce, plus Cool Archie's colourful owner Max Whitby. 'Is he a stayer, is he a sprinter, is he just a middle-distance horse? We don't know because we haven't got to the bottom of him.' Cool Archie WINS the G1 J.J. Atkins! ðŸ�† @munceracing — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 14, 2025 • Cool Archie has put forward a convincing case to earn this season's Champion Two-Year-Old honours, with his value as a stallion prospect skyrocketing after stamping a Group 1 on his CV. 'It doesn't get much better than this,' said Whitby, also raced Cool Archie's grandsire Savabeel. 'If he's not voted Champion Two-Year-Old of the year then I'll drop my duds. He can be anything – five straight (wins) is unbelievable. 'You show me a better two-year-old around the country. He deserves it on his merit. 'I think this bloke (Cool Archie) has got everything – he's won a maiden, black type, now Group 1 in literally his first prep so to speak. 'I'm just over the moon and so proud of him, the jockey (Martin Harley) and the Munces.' • ' There were dark days': Harley's Group 1 glory caps inspirational return Munce heaped praise on Irish jockey Harley, who has jetted off for a well-deserved break in the UK, where he will also attend Royal Ascot races this week. 'I just think he's very professional and he's a good judge,' Munce said about Harley, who has ridden Cool Archie to five successive victories this campaign. 'He assesses horses very well and their level of ability. He can give you a good guide and feedback on how they're going. 'He doesn't just steer them around for the wages, he actually takes a bit of interest in them and pride in his work. 'He enjoys giving constructive feedback to help the trainer improve the horse.' "You can mount a case he should be 2YO of the season." Cool Archie just keeps getting it done! What a star â� @munceracing @michaelmaxworth @bernadetecooper @BenWayAUS @CoreyGoodSkillz @BradJGray — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 15, 2025 • There are spring options aplenty for Cool Archie next campaign and while the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington on November 1 looms as a likely target, Whitby said he and Munce had also discussed the possibility of setting the colt for the Group 1 $20m The Everest (1200m) at Randwick on October 18. Team Hawkes -trained Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes winner Briasa already locked in.
News.com.au
15-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
‘Huge offers': Studs clamour for Cool Archie as owner Max Whitby dreams of The Everest
Cool Archie has made a compelling case for Champion Two-year-old honours and put himself into The Everest conversation after his outstanding Group 1 win in the JJ Atkins at Eagle Farm last Saturday. The Chris and Corey Munce -trained Cool Archie made it five wins in succession – four of those at stakes level – when he comfortably held off Hidden Achievement. Unlike the Horse of the Year award which is a foregone conclusion after champion mare Via Sistina 's phenomenal 2024-25 – in which she won a record-equalling seven Group 1 wins including the Cox Plate - Queen Elizabeth Stakes double – there has been no dominant two-year-old this season. In fact, there has been a different winner of each of the five Group 1 two-year-old races with Marhoona and Devil Night scoring their only stakes win in the Golden Slipper and Blue Diamond respectively. Nepotism won the Group 1 Champagne Stakes and Group 3 Baillieu Handicap while Vinrock was unbeaten in three starts and became first horse since Full On Aces (1981) to win the Group 2 VRC Sires Produce Stakes and Group 1 ATC Sires Produce Stakes double. But Cool Archie's late season surge with five consecutive wins including the Listed Dalrello Stakes, Group 2 Spirit Of Boom Classic, Group 2 BRC Sires Produce Stakes and Group 1 JJ Atkins gives him a real shot at champion two-year-old honours. 'We feel he has done enough to win that award,'' owner Max Whitby said. 'He's an outstanding colt, he's won from 1000m to 1600m, he's won dry and wet tracks – he's a beauty.'' Cool Archie WINS the G1 J.J. Atkins! ðŸ�† @munceracing — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 14, 2025 Whitby said he had already fielded 'some huge offers' from interested studs looking to buy into Cool Archie as a potential stallion prospect. But Whitby said he wasn't going to be rushed into any decisions in the short term as he left on Sunday to attend Royal Ascot in England. 'I've waited 20 years since Savabeel to race another top class colt and I've found one in his grandson, Cool Archie,'' Whitby said. 'It's incredible that Chris Munce won the Cox Plate on Savabeel (2004) for me and all these years later he's training Cool Archie. 'This colt will make a great stallion himself one day but first we have a lot to look forward to with him next season.'' "You can mount a case he should be 2YO of the season." Cool Archie just keeps getting it done! What a star â� @munceracing @michaelmaxworth @bernadetecooper @BenWayAUS @CoreyGoodSkillz @BradJGray — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 15, 2025 Whitby said Cool Archie had earned a well-deserved spell with initial plans to set the colt for the Group 1 $3 million Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington on November 1. But the owner also revealed there had been initial discussions about possibly aiming Cool Archie at the Group 1 $20 million The Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick on October 18. 'Chris and I have been talking about The Everest, we are open to running him there,'' Whitby said. 'Cool Archie is such an exciting horse you have to look at everything. But we will just let the dust settle for now then see what some of the slot-holders are thinking.'' Whitby shares an Everest slot with Neil Werrett and Col Madden but they have already selected the outstanding Team Hawkes -trained Briasa for the world's richest turf race. Briasa is currently on the third line of TAB Fixed Odds Everest betting at $8 behind Hong Kong sprint sensation Ka Ying Rising at $1.80 and the unbeaten Private Harry at $6.
News.com.au
15-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
2025 JJ Atkins-winning jockey Martin Harley recalls ‘dark days' when he feared neck injury would end his career
Newly crowned JJ Atkins champion Martin Harley remembers the 'dark days' when he feared his career as a jockey was over. In January 2023, the popular Irishman suffered multiple fractures to his neck in a sickening fall during a midweek race. Fast-forward to the Queensland Winter Carnival, and the 35-year-old hoop broke a 10-year Group 1 drought to take out the JJ Atkins (1600m) on Champion Two Year Old of the season contender Cool Archie at Eagle Farm on Saturday. The Chris and Corey Munce -trained colt capped an incredible season with his fifth straight victory in a sensational campaign that began with a maiden win at Doomben in mid-April and ended with a major win on Stradbroke Handicap Day. Harley has taken a short break from riding to visit his family in Ireland and watch the races at famous racetrack Royal Ascot in England this week as a spectator. But his frightening fall in 2023 left him wondering whether he'd even be able to walk again, let alone make a comeback to riding – particularly given he was forced to wear a neck halo for several weeks during a long stint on the sidelines. 'Certainly there were dark days during that four-and-a-half month period,' he told Racenet. "I'm glad to get back on that Group 1 board." Martin Harley gets his first Group 1 win on Australian soil! — 7HorseRacing ðŸ�Ž (@7horseracing) June 14, 2025 'I think the big key was that I never had any operations during that period and it was all natural healing. 'Everything went back for scans and the healing was going in the right direction. 'That was a big boost for me to even make a comeback. I didn't know if I even wanted to get back on a horse. 'When I had my first winner in my comeback – Sunfall for Barry Lockwood at Doomben (in May 2023) – I'll never forget it. 'I wasn't meant to give it up just yet and I got a big thrill out of my first winner back from the injury and to now ride a Group 1 winner (on Cool Archie), that's very special. 'He wears his heart on his sleeve. He's just the whole package and he can do it all.' Cool Archie WINS the G1 J.J. Atkins! ðŸ�† @munceracing — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 14, 2025 • The well-travelled Harley has now won six majors since 2012 – three in France and one each in Ireland, England and Australia. Asked where the JJ Atkins victory rated among his six Group 1s, the 35-year-old said: 'It's hard to split them. 'When I came out of my apprenticeship, my first Group 1 winner back in Ireland (in 2012 in the Irish 1,000 Guineas) for Mick Channon on Samitar was very special. 'Going back to my homeland to ride a Group 1 winner was unbelievable and then a Royal Ascot winner with Goldream (in 2015). 'One thing I will say, this (the JJ Atkins) is up there with the best.' JJ Atkins-winning jockey Martin Harley celebrating in style ✈ï¸� ðŸ�¾ Via Instagram / djzoro27 — 7HorseRacing ðŸ�Ž (@7horseracing) June 14, 2025 Chris Munce, who will fly out to England on Sunday night with son Corey and Cool Archie's owner Max Whitby to also attend the Royal Ascot Carnival, praised Harley's ability to stay composed under pressure. 'He's very confident in his opinion and he backs himself, which is something I like,' Munce told Radio TAB on Sunday. 'He rarely gets it wrong and he's calm under pressure in the bigger races.'
