MUNCE ON MONDAY - A TOUGH JOB BUT, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, IT HAS BEEN A SATISFYING TWELVE MONTHS

By Chris Munce | Monday, January 11, 2016

Grand Slam winning jockey turned trainer Chris Munce has had a busy twelve months since the curtain came down on his riding career a year ago at the 2015 Magic Millions meeting. Getting established in the training ranks is no easy task but Munce has tackled that challenge with the same vigour and competitive streak he showed in the saddle. In this, his first blog on HRO, Munce looks back at his first year in the training business.

When I walked out of Magic Million race-day last year after my last day as a jockey I faced a pretty quick shift of focus to suddenly becoming a trainer.

It was something I’d been thinking about for a long time. Obviously I love riding and that had been my life in the racing industry, but you can’t ride forever.

I was very happy with what I’d achieved throughout my career as a jockey and I just felt, while I was still young, I wanted to challenge myself and try something new.

I’ve always had a very deep passion about training. I’ve always enjoyed looking at the training aspect and picking trainer’s brains with regard to horses ... trying to find out more about horse’s characteristics, their traits, training methods etc.

To me racing has always been a learning curve, even when I was riding, so I was more than happy with my decision to stop riding and move into the training ranks and take up that challenge.

**********************************************************************************************************

I stated with about eight horses and I’ve built up now to having twenty-six in work consistently.

At the moment that is probably a good number. Hopefully when Eagle Farm is up and going after all of the renovations that might change because, not being on course, I’m only limited to a certain number of horses.

I currently also have ten boxes at the Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast is a terrific environment in which to get horses ready and after that they are pretty much ready to go to the races.

I still get a little bit emotional on race-days. I probably get a bit too wound up. It’s the jockey blood in me. It takes up a lot of energy but I would never want to lose that passion. Without that passion you probably shouldn’t be there.

I just love seeing my horses every day. I love seeing them step out, look well, parade well and race well.

********************************************************************************************************

I have had to adjust on many levels.

As far as owners go, they used to be people I talked to but now some of them are my clients and I’ve had to learn to deal with them in that way.

Owners need to be informed on what their horse is doing and where the horse is up to in terms of progress. As far as our business model goes we try to be informative and give the owners as much information as we can.

Because I ride my horses in work I can get a good guide on the horses and I’m able to give connections a good, honest appraisal of the horse’s ability.

So my riding skills are still coming in useful in getting a feel for the horses, both ability-wise and getting an idea of what type of frame of mind a horse is in.

If I see a horse that I don’t think is going to cut it, I’ll tell them that because I don’t like to see owners wasting their time and money.

On the other hand, if I’ve got a young horse who I have faith in and I think is going to need a bit of time to mature, I’ve got to give that message to the owners and try and get them to understand the need to be patient and to give the horse the time it needs before the penny drops.

Thankfully the owners I’ve got at this time are terrific.

They are just nice people. They enjoy the race-day. They love their horses. They are just in it for a good time and a lot of fun ... and all of that obviously helps making my job as a trainer easier.

********************************************************************************************************

There were a couple of surprises waiting for me as well.

In its most simple form you think that, as a trainer, you are going to train horses ... but the fact is that when it is your own business there is so much more involved that is difficult to prepare for and some things you just have to learn on the job.

Training is a specific business and I think for my first few months as a trainer I found it a little bit difficult in the sense that, apart from anything else, I was having to run my own business and I had to have a cash flow to do that in order to be able to pay the feed merchant, the vet and people like that.

It wasn’t like when I was riding when your wage was automatically there every Friday, paid into your account.

Obviously it is now your own business and it is a serious business. It is your livelihood so you have to make the numbers add up if you are going to make a success of it and that is something I had to learn from scratch.

Besides that, it was also a surprise how time consuming it is too. It is extremely time consuming because of the different aspects of the business.

For the first twelve months I went out running at a hundred miles an hour just to make sure things are running and flowing the way I want them to run.

I have had to learn to manage my time better ... and I’m still in the process of trying to learn how to manage my time as well as I possibly can.

It’s just another process I have had to follow.

*******************************************************************************************************

Again I’m fortunate. I’ve got terrific staff.

They all have a passion for horses and enjoy being with their horses and they enjoy working in our stable.

Our horses always come first.

My wife and one of the girls who work for us keep drilling into me the fact that happy horses win races. I think we have a happy stable which helps meet that goal.

**********************************************************************************************************

So looking back over the last twelve months I am happy with what the stable has achieved at this stage.

With the quality of horses I have got and the way they have raced in the first twelve months I am happy. I’m also proud of the way they have turned up and raced every time they’ve gone to the races.

I think I’ve trained twenty-odd winners in that period and six or seven of those were metropolitan winners.

All things considered, from a standing start, I think that is a very good effort.

More articles