Cover image courtesy of Michael McInally
There was no missing the beaming smile on the face of popular Queenslander Chris Munce at Ipswich, delighted to have taken out the Listed Ipswich Cup with Smart Meteor (Smart Missile) and not long after the Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic with Centrefire (Shooting To Win).
“It was a very good day,” Munce told TDN AusNZ. “All the horses raced well.”
Debut stakes winners on the back of worthy form, Smart Meteor and Centrefire were purchased by Munce Racing, the former secured for $50,000 at the 2018 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale and the latter earlier that year for $100,000 at the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
“I had a history with Gooree (breeders of Smart Meteor) so I know that they breed good, tough horses,” Munce said. “While the filly (Centrefire) was just a smashing type as a yearling - and she has matured into a beautiful mare, she will make a lovely broodmare when she retires.”
Gallery: Chris Munce's stakes winners on Ipswich Cup Day, images courtesy of Michael McInally
Enjoying a great run having also cheered home the recent stakes winners Boomnova (the Listed Lightning H. winner by Spirit Of Boom) and Palaisipan (the Gooree-bred G2 Dane Ripper S. winner by So You Think {NZ}), Munce has well and truly settled into his second career within racing.
And we have to mention what an apt win it was for the G1 Tattersall’s Tiara-bound Palaisipan - Munce having won the 1997 G1 Stradbroke H. aboard Dane Ripper (Danehill {USA}).
It was during the latter years of his riding career that Munce first began to think about a training career, for most of his jockey days his aim mainly to, “Be known as a good rider and a good horseman.”
“I love my horses,” he said, noting that getting to know them as individuals is one of the most satisfying aspects to training. “The art is identifying their strengths and their weaknesses.”
“The art (in training) is identifying their strengths and their weaknesses.” - Chris Munce
While undertaking his highly successful riding career (one that saw him win a number of Australia’s biggest races including the G1 Melbourne Cup on Jezabeel {NZ}, by Zabeel {NZ}; the G1 Caulfield Cup on Descarado {NZ} by High Chaparral {Ire}; the G1 W.S Cox Plate on Savabeel by Zabeel {NZ}; and two editions of the G1 Golden Slipper S. - Prowl by Marauding {NZ} and Dance Hero by Danzero), Munce took note of the talents of the various high-class trainers he rode for.
“I was lucky enough to ride for the likes of Gai Waterhouse, Brian Mayfield-Smith, Jack Denham, John Size and Paul O’Sullivan in Hong Kong.
“But there is no one rule book on how to train a horse, if there was everybody would be doing it! But we are dealing with individual animals and I was able to take bits and pieces from all those great trainers.”
Munce has also been able to apply the skills he developed during his riding days.
“As a jockey, you get a good guide on fitness levels, what it takes to get them fit and to keep them fit without overdoing it,” he explained.
Plus his knowledge of tracks is a definite advantage - Ipswich a tricky track to ride, Munce able to give winning instructions to his riders on the back of his own riding experiences.
The rider of 42 Group 1 winners himself, Munce is now looking forward to cheering home an elite-level winner as a trainer, noting the differences between the two facets of his career.
“They are chalk and cheese!
“There is a lot of hard work, a lot of heartache and frustration in training. So much goes into each individual race and afterwards you have to take your horse home and try to figure out how to improve them, or how to maintain them,” he said.
“So much goes into each individual race and afterwards you have to take your horse home and try to figure out how to improve them, or how to maintain them.” - Chris Munce
“Whereas, as a jockey, I just got on and off and sometimes I would never see that horse again.”
Which is why, he said, training a feature-race winner is a bigger - and more satisfying thrill - than riding one.
And both of Saturday’s winners were such thrills. As mentioned, Smart Meteor was bred by Gooree and Munce rode many a nice horse in their well-known red and black striped colours. Such as the warhorse Desert War (Desert King {Ire}) on whom he won two races; the Listed Gosford Guineas and the G1 Mackinnon S.
Chris Munce winning the G1 Mackinnon S. aboard Desert War | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Meanwhile he has a definite soft spot for Centrefire.
“My mum and dad and my wife Cathy are in her, along with a lovely bunch of people, so her win was very exciting, one of my bigger thrills.”
Especially as it came in a race named after Gai Waterhouse with whom he enjoyed so much success. And because Munce has always held Centrefire in such high esteem.
“She has always been a really good galloper, she has always promised to deliver in a good race.”
“She (Centrefire) has always been a really good galloper, she has always promised to deliver in a good race.” - Chris Munce
Smart Meteor (whose interesting pedigree is worthy of mention - his sire Smart Missile’s grandam Explosive {USA} by Fappiano {USA} is the dam of his dam sire Northern Meteor) meanwhile has been a challenge to place.
“He won an open Saturday 3-year-old race early days and then got handicapped out at that level. He is not a very big horse and he doesn’t carry weight well so it was just a matter of finding the right race for him - and he was able to get into the Ipswich Cup on the minimum.”
While always having huge respect for trainers, Munce now being of them himself, is full of admiration for the hard workers in the game.
Gallery: Connections of Smart Meteor and Centrefire after winning their respective races, images courtesy of Michael McInally
“It can be a brutal game,” he said. “But there are a lot of good times, but once it’s in your blood, it stays there.”
