MARTIN HARLEY HAS TWO LIVE CHANCES TO ADD TO HIS CARNIVAL WINNING TALLY AT EAGLE FARM ON SATURDAY

By Graham Potter | Friday, May 30, 2025

While big name jockeys have been hogging the headlines so far during the Queensland Winter Carnival … as they do … Martin Harley has been quietly going about his business, and successfully so, having already landed a Group 2 win and a Listed race success since the Carnival began.

On Saturday … Queensland Derby Day … Harley will have two live chances of adding to his feature race Carnival tally when he rides Cool Archie in the Group 2 Sires Produce Stakes and Dillian in the Group 3 Queens Elizabeth Cup.

These rides are a continuation of the blossoming relationship Harley is enjoying with both the training partnership of Chris and Corey Munce, who are guiding Cool Archie’s career, and the Peter and Will Hulbert training partnership, who are responsible for plotting a path for Dillian.

Just how successful these relationships have been up to now is underlined by the fact that Harley has ridden Cool Archie to three wins on the trot and he has also partnered to Dillian in his two wins from two runs since relocating to the Hulbert stable.

“I am looking forward to both rides,” said Harley.

“Obviously, Archie is a little star. He is a very tough horse … to win his Maiden, then a Listed race and then to jump up to Group 2 level and beat a strong field at Doomben, it was a good performance.

“He’s got a lot of fight in him. He’s got a big will to win, that’s for sure.

“I rode him in work on Tuesday on the course proper. I am very happy with him. He is a very laid-back character. He only does what he has to do on normal mornings … and then when you ask him the question he fires up.

“He worked as good as ever on Tuesday. I think he has come forward from his Doomben run.

“He has drawn a bit of a sticky barrier on Saturday, but that doesn’t overly concern me. Eagle Farm is a much fairer track to draw a bad barrier … more so than Doomben or the Gold Coast track. You can actually come back and ride a bit more of race from there, which will suit him stepping up to 1400m.

“The blinkers are off tomorrow, and I don’t see that being any issue whatsoever. He has grown up an awful lot in his last three starts and I think he will take a lot of beating tomorrow.

“Dillian is a horse that I know pretty well,” continued Harley. “He came from the UK. He went to Melbourne first. He ran some good races in Melbourne, but he couldn’t really get going.

“I know the owners really well. They are a great bunch of lads, and they just thought to bring him to Queensland to try and get him into winning ways … and that surely has worked. His last two starts have been wins and the last of those was a very impressive win.

“Obviously, he is stepping up in Grade tomorrow again … but he is a course and distance winner at Eagle Farm. If we get the rain … he doesn’t need the rain, but the way he has won twice on a heavy track, if we get the rain it will play to his strengths more than not.

“He won very easily last time, and I’ve ridden him in trackwork since. He went super and he has definitely gained confidence from those two wins.

“I think he can run a massive race to be honest.”

An Irish jockey on an Irish import … you can expect the luck of the Irish to be riding with them!

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