THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - CHRIS MUNCE, FROM THE SADDLE TO THE STOPWATCH

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 18, 2015

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

Chris Munce walked away from the Gold Coast track last Saturday with a smile on his face.

What he was feeling inwardly only Munce would know, but it was too soon for the forty-five-year-old to even begin to reflect on his riding career.

After-all, until last Saturday, Munce’s main focus would have been on getting Wicked Intent home in the Magic Millions two-year-old Classic (he would ultimately finish in sixth place) ... and, after that, his last step away from riding was immediately followed by his first step into training, a whole new attention-demanding venture.

Munce will know that achievement in the saddle and mastery of the stop-watch are poles apart in terms of what it takes to succeed.

It is certainly not a ‘given’ that a good jockey will make a good trainer or even that a good jockey will be able to make the uneasy adjustment from playing an active, leading role out on the track to being removed enough from the core action to not be able to have any say in proceedings once the horses have left the mounting yard.

In a word, it is a ‘challenge.’

Munce’s riding honour list is longer than his arm.

He is one of only seven riders in Australian Racing’s Grand Slam club, having saluted in the Melbourne Cup (Jezabeel), the Cox Plate (Savabeel), two Golden Slippers (Prowl, Dance Hero) and the Caulfield Cup (Descarado – his forty-second Group 1 victory).

Throw in two Stradbrokes (Landsighting, Dane Ripper), three Magic Millions Two-Year-Old triumphs (Sunblazer – in 1989 when just nineteen years of age, Excellerator and Dance Hero), amongst others, and you will start to get an idea of the big picture Munce has created in terms of his riding legacy.

It wasn’t all wine and roses though.

Munce’s infamous brush with Hong Kong authorities, which led to him being convicted by a Hong Kong court in the ‘tips for bets’ scandal made headlines for all of the wrong reasons back in March 2007.

Munce did his time, but walked into further controversy when Racing NSW chose to allow him back to ride in their jurisdiction before his more generally accepted, internationally agreed ‘time out’ had been completed.

In 2010 Munce moved from Sydney and made Queensland his home base. In the 2011/12 season Munce created history by becoming the first jockey to ride 100 Queensland metropolitan winners in a season beating Mick Dittman's 32 year old record of 97.5 winners.

Then, when riding on a crest of a wave, Munce was once again stopped in his tracks.

This time it was a health matter ... a throat cancer scare. This highly personal battle was largely and rightfully fought in private.

It was something that Munce tackled head-on ... and beat, a result which allowed him to not only return to action as competitive as ever but also allowed him to choose the time and place of his retirement from the riding ranks ... on his own terms.

That done, it is now Munce the trainer ... with no guarantees on what life on the other side of the running rail will bring.

It should be an interesting journey.

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