Munce stable locked in for Magic Millions tilt

By Glenn Davis

The father-and-son training partnership of Chris and Corey Munce believe “miracle man” Martin Harley is the perfect jockey for Zip Lock’s grand final in the Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Unbeaten Queenslander Zip Lock drew perfectly in barrier three for the $3 million feature while stablemate Double Cool fared even better and will jump from gate two.

The Bjorn Baker-trained favourite Warwoven also drew perfectly in barrier six to retain his place at the head of markets at $2.10 while Zip Lock is second favourite at $6.50.

“Martin is the right man to have on any horse in a big race and is the perfect rider for a grand final,” Corey Munce said. 

“He gets it right most times and he gives you a good assessment of a horse even after one barrier trial.

“It’s also a privilege to have Damian Lane on Double Cool.

“Martin was doing backflips after Zip Lock's work and after the barrier draw.”

Zip Lock was a $160,000 buy at the sales on the Gold Coast and stormed into Magic Millions calculations with a dominant win in the Group 3 B.J. McLachlan Stakes at Eagle Farm last month.

The son of Hellbent won his only other start at Doomben last November and is attempting to follow Coolangatta in 2021 and Storm Boy in 2023 who went on to win the Magic Millions Classic after their B.J. McLachlan wins.

“It was a strong win in the B.J. McLachlan and being a colt, he only does what he has too,” co-trainer Corey Munce said.

“The Magic Millions is a high-pressure race so he should only be a couple of pairs back in the run.”

Harley thought his riding days were over following a nasty fall three years ago but now he’s looking down the barrel of his first Magic Millions Classic win.

The larrikin Irishman suffered a bad fall at Doomben in early 2023.

Harley decided not to have surgery in his recovery and instead wore a halo neck brace for four months.

It took the determined Harley five months before he returned to the saddle.

But, it didn’t take long before he rode his first winner back aboard Sunfall at Doomben in May of that year.

Fast forward almost 12 months to the day of the fall and Harley was back on top of the racing world after winning the 2024 Magic Millions Guineas on the Robert Heathcote-trained Abounding.

Since then, Harley has been in stellar form, he claimed a picket fence of eight straight wins in November last year.

He has ridden winners in three of his last four rides including Poster Girl for the Munce stable in the Magic Millions Rising Stars race at the Gold Coast last Saturday.