Latest news with #CoolArchie
The Australian
3 days ago
- Climate
- The Australian
Eagle Farm gets unexpected Super Saturday after Queensland Derby Day washout
Eagle Farm will host a 10-card Super Saturday of racing next weekend, with a bumper three Group 1s to be staged following the abandonment of four races on Queensland Derby Day on Saturday. Jockeys complained of poor visibility at Eagle Farm after persistent heavy rain during the day, forcing officials to abandon the Derby meeting after five races on Saturday on another wet day in Brisbane. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The jockeys met after the running of the Group 2 BRC Sires' Produce (1400m), won by Cool Archie on a Heavy 10 track, before voicing their concerns about visibility in the awful conditions at Eagle Farm. It means Group 1 races the Kingsford Smith Cup (1300m) and the Queensland Derby (2400m) will be rescheduled to next Saturday at Eagle Farm, with the Queensland Oaks (2200m) for 3YO fillies to be run as per normal on that day. The Fred Best Classic, which offers the winning three-year-old a golden ticket into the Stradbroke Handicap in two weeks, will now be staged on Wednesday on Doomben. • Munce colt Cool in crisis to take out Sires' Produce However, the Group 3 Fred Best will now be run over the shorter distance of 1350m instead of 1400m. The winning trainer of the Fred Best will need as much time as possible to prepare their horse for the Group 1 Stradbroke (1400m) on June 14. Just five of the nine races on Saturday were contested before RQ officials decided to abandon the key winter carnival meeting after the jockeys voiced their concerns about the poor visibility on the track. 'We work with the riding group and obviously the rider and horse welfare is the No.1 priority when it comes to these issues,' Racing Queensland chief steward Josh Adams said. 'We felt the track was safe but it was the visibility and the kickback which ultimately resulted in the remainder of the card being cancelled. 'Hopefully the rain goes away and we can run the rescheduled races under fine conditions next week.' Martin Harley after riding Cool Archie to victory. Picture: Trackside Photography • Kiwi import at home on heavy track in dominant Eagle Farm win To accommodate the three rescheduled races from Derby Day, a Benchmark 90 Handicap and Class 6 Handicap due to be contested at Eagle Farm next Saturday will be shifted to the Sunshine Coast next Sunday. All scratchings will be reinstated for the rescheduled races. Brisbane Racing Club will honour all general admission tickets from Saturday for the Eagle Farm meeting on next weekend. Weather in Brisbane should fine up from Tuesday and little rain is predicted from then onwards for the rest of the week.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Cool Archie comes from nowhere to claim stunning victory in Group 2 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes
'I've got a stallion!' They were the first words that beaming owner Max Whitby said to trainer Chris Munce as the dynamic duo teamed up again with crack colt Cool Archie, this time taking out the $1m Group 2 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) at a sodden Eagle Farm. They scored the rich victory in the nick of time, with jockeys post-race voting not to continue the double-pronged Group 1 meeting due to poor visibility. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! After snatching a powerful win from the jaws of defeat, when Cool Archie was at the back and with a wall of horses in front of him, there is little doubt prominent owner Whitby has a tantalising future breeding prospect on his hands. But first things first and Cool Archie, who steamed through the saturated Eagle Farm track to score his fourth consecutive win, is the new $6 favourite for the Group 1 JJ Atkins on Stradbroke Handicap day in a fortnight. Munce and his co-trainer son Corey have been telling anyone who will listen they have a top notch youngster on their hands. Two-year-old Cool Archie could now even be powering past their own expectations. Chris Munce, who has a decades-long friendship with Whitby stretching back to when he rode Savabeel to glory in the 2004 Cox Plate for the owner, was gobsmacked by the nature of the Sires' win. A barnstorming win by Cool Archie in the G2 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes, and that's four in a row to the @munceracing galloper! 🙌 @BrisRacingClub â€' SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 31, 2025 The former champion jockey turned trainer thought the colt had blown his chances, being so far back in the field and having to pass so many others. 'I basically wrote him off at the half-mile to be honest, I thought he would need a miracle from where he was,' Munce said. 'I thought he was in an unwinnable position. 'When they all fanned and everything opened up, he was able to take advantage of it. 'This colt has certainly flown under the radar. 'His work on Tuesday morning was terrific, Martin (Harley) galloped him on Tuesday and couldn't have been more impressed with how he went. 'I think Martin wanted to save a bit of energy in the race today. 'He wasn't too fussed on getting in close to the rail which was probably a winning move. 'I just liked the way the horse kept coming, so the mile of the JJ Atkins is definitely not going to be an issue.' Harley also had few doubts about the 1600m of the JJ Atkins being an concern for Cool Archie. 'As we knew, he wears his heart on his sleeve,' Harley said. 'He is improving run to run. He relaxed beautifully and had the will to win.' Cool Archie was backed from $9 to $7 and beat runner-up Farnicle ($19) by almost three lengths and Call Da Vinci ($26) was third. Fifth-placed Matt Dunn colt Torque To Be Sure was a terrific run for fifth and would have finished much closer on dry track.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
2025 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes: Trainer Kelly Schweida wary of tough last run for Grafterburners
Trainer Kelly Schweida 's biggest concern for his rising star Grafterburners in Saturday's $1m BRC Sires' Produce Stakes at Eagle Farm is how much fuel is left in the tank after the colt's last gut-busting run across the road at Doomben. Grafterburners produced an eye-catching charge from out wide on a heavy track in the Group 2 Spirit of Boom Classic (1200m) two weeks ago to finish third behind Cool Archie and Gallo Nero, who is the $4.20 favourite for the Sires' Produce (1400m). Schweida also has exciting grey filly El Morzillo running in Saturday's Fred Best Classic (1400m), which offers the winner a golden ticket to the prestigious $3m Stradbroke Handicap in two weeks' time. Grafterburners is currently third in the betting market for the Sires' Produce for juveniles, behind the Hawkes Team's Gallo Nero and Michael Freedman 's undefeated gelding Aerodrome ($6.50). The Chris and Corey Munce -trained Cool Archie is listed as a $12 chance following his Spirit of Boom Classic victory, his third win in a row. Grafterburners will need another tremendous effort from barrier 16 on Saturday when the Eagle Farm track is almost certain to be worse than its current Soft 5 grading, with showers forecast in Brisbane on Friday and on race day. Another winner for @munceracing, with Cool Archie getting the nose down in the Spirit Of Boom Classic! — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 17, 2025 'That run was super,' Schweida said of the ride two weeks ago from Jason Collett, who will again be on-board for the Sires' Produce after Blake Shinn this week was ruled out of the rest of the winter carnival with a foot injury. 'The only trouble is that you don't know how much that takes out of them. 'It doesn't appear to have. He's worked good, his blood's good and he looks good. But he had a hard run the other day, four-deep. 'It's a strong Sires', as good as I've seen for a while.' Collett will ride El Morzillo in the Fred Best Classic after steering the filly to a last-start win in a 1350m race for three-year-olds on Doomben 10,000 day two weeks ago. The winner of more than $1m in prizemoney has firmed from $16 to $11 in the $300,000 Group 3 race, with the Chris Waller -trained Angela Capital the $3 favourite ahead of Media World ($7.50) and Just Party ($8). 'She's got an awkward gate too (11) but she bounced back super from that run the other day,' Schweida said. 'She looks good and she's got the same jockey on.' If El Morzillo wins the Fred Best Classic to gain guaranteed entry into the Stradbroke Handicap, she will carry just 49.5kg in the 1400m blue-riband race on June 14.
News.com.au
5 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Cool Archie chasing fourth straight win in BRC Sires' Produce Stakes as he follows Sizzling path to Group 1
Brisbane trainer Chris Munce has compared his high-flying colt Cool Archie to one of his favourite gallopers Sizzling, who he enjoyed enormous success with as a champion jockey. Munce also said many people still did not respect Cool Archie, who will chase his fourth straight victory in the Group 2 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday. • Racenet iQ members get full access to our Pro Tips service, where Greg Polson and our team of professional punters provide daily tips with fully transparent return on investment statistics. SUBSCRIBE NOW and start punting like a pro! The now 56-year-old trainer formed a special bond with Group 1 winner Sizzling, who took out the Sires' Produce in 2012 with Munce on board. 'I've got quite attached to him,' Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Munce said about Sizzling in June 2013. 'He was a little beauty right from the start.' Munce had a golden run with Sizzling in the 2012 Queensland winter carnival, winning successive Group races the Champagne Classic (now Spirit of Boom Classic), Sires' Produce and the TJ Smith (now JJ Atkins). The following year Sizzling finished seventh in the Stradbroke Handicap as a three-year-old. Cool Archie is following a similar trajectory and Munce is hoping history can repeat with a victory in the Sires' Produce this week. 'He reminds me a little bit of Sizzling, who had an early Magic Millions preparation and then he came back to win those same sort of races,' Munce said of Cool Archie. 'Sizzling won the Ken Russell (in 2012) and then won the Champagne Classic, the Sires' and JJ Atkins. 'They're a similar mould of horse so you never know.' Bookmakers have rated Cool Archie as a $15 chance for the Sires' Produce Stakes, with the winner guaranteed entry into the JJ Atkins (1600m) on June 14 at Eagle Farm. Team Hawkes' Gallo Nero is the $3.80 favourite ahead of Aerodrome ($6.50), Prince Tycoon ($8) and Beskar ($8.50). Munce bristles somewhat at those odds for Cool Archie, knowing full well that the classy colt can't do any more to impress him. 'I'm sure he'll run the seven furlongs strong, he'll do it on his ear,' said Munce, who trains in partnership with his son Corey. 'The horse is exposed now, his form is there with people to do what they want with it. 'Obviously they don't respect his ratings I suppose, for whatever reason, but I can only go on my horse and what I see in the stables and he's done everything right. 'He looks great and he's doing extremely well. I've got no reason to think he won't run good again for us.' Munce said he would chat to Irish jockey Martin Harley before deciding whether to take the blinkers off Cool Archie for Saturday's $1m Sires' Produce. The trainer also has Brookhaven running in the Lord Mayor's Cup (1800m), Payline in the Kingsford Smith Cup (1300m) and Ruins Of Rom e in the Fred Best Classic (1400m). The latter two races both offer a golden ticket into next month's $3m Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap.
Courier-Mail
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Courier-Mail
Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed after Ipswich win on Wednesday
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. Bookmakers have slashed the odds of gelding Call Da Vinci to win next week's Group 2 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes from $100 to $26 following his gutsy victory in the Sacred Elixir 2YO handicap (1350m) at Ipswich on Wednesday. The Bevan Laming-trained Call Da Vinci ($4.20) wore down $1.90 favourite Navy Pilot, who overraced early and felt the strain of the 60kg topweight in the straight to finish runner-up, ahead of North Pole ($4.20), in the seven-horse race on a Heavy 8 track. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'It was a good ride,' co-trainer Richard Laming said of Jaden Lloyd's steer in the 1350m race, which was shifted from the Sunshine Coast to Ipswich due to poor track conditions. 'It wasn't our plan but in hindsight it was good that the horse could sit off the speed, peel out and really put them away like he did. 'It was very good to see him be strong through the line like he was there today.' The Hawkes team's colt Gallo Nero is the $4 favourite for the $1m BRC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) on Saturday week at Eagle Farm. Aerodrome ($6), Grafterburners ($8), Beksar and Cool Archie (both $11) are on the next line of betting. Call Da Vinci franked the form out of the $300,000 Group 2 Spirit of Boom Classic (1200m) won by Cool Archie, who defeated classy colt Gallo Nero and fellow Queensland star sprinter Grafterburners. • Shinn in emotional history-making Doomben Cup mission He finished runner-up to the Chris and Corey Munce-trained Cool Archie in a 2YO maiden at Doomben on a heavy track on April 16. 'Well he keeps stepping up too – he's now a Listed winner and a Group 2 winner,' Laming said about Cool Archie. 'It's all strong form so it's good heading to where we're heading (the BTC Sires Produce). 'They had me on the radio this morning and I was nearly going to say 'we should be backing him (Call Da Vinci) now just in case he does win (in Ipswich)'. 'I'm pretty sure he won't be one hundreds. But he's got to pull up OK and it's only 10 days away. 'He's only a two-year-old and there's plenty of water to go under the bridge. He'll go back to the farm and be back in town next week for the water-walker and a bit of beach work.' Bevan Laming also trained Call Da Vinci's mum Calzini, who was sired by Shamus Award. Lloyd said Call Da Vinci had developed a habit of starting his races slowly but it didn't stop him on Wednesday against Ciaron Maher's well-backed favourite Navy Pilot. 'I didn't panic because I know the ability the horse has,' Lloyd said. 'I was quite happy to be on the back of the favourite because he (Call Da Vinci) is a better horse if he has something to chase. 'He's a tough horse. He's only small but he's very tenacious.' Originally published as Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed from $100 to $26 after Ipswich win on Wednesday
