Archie McColm to live out his dream

By Jordan Gerrans

Gold Coast teenager Archie McColm first dreamt of becoming a jockey when he was in primary school and the talented youngster will live out his early ambition for the first time on Saturday afternoon.

The son of top trainer David McColm has been waiting in the wings in recent weeks and will debut as an apprentice rider at Nanango Race Club.

Since the McColm family’s shift from Murwillumbah to the Gold Coast over the last year, the 17-year-old has been a hot commodity at Aquis Park with several of the big barns booking his services for trackwork, trials and in jump-outs.

That is underlined by Archie’s maiden bookings at the races this Saturday.

He will partner King Of Valhalla for Tony and Maddysen Sears as well as Grand Crusader for trainer Jay Bellamy and Maryann Brosnan’s Calvary.

He has also picked up the mount of Our Frankie for Wondai trainer Jason Hancock.

“If anything, I'm really excited to get moving and get going,” Archie said.

“This is what I want to do, so I'm really happy and excited.

“I am a bit nervous, but I think it's all good. It's been quite intense in recent weeks doing all my trials and jump-outs.

“It's been really good though, learning a lot lately, riding a fair bit of outside work for other people, trials and jump-outs.

“It's been really educational and good.”

The McColm family have risen to prominence in recent years through the deeds of former stable star Far Too Easy.

Far Too Easy travelled far and wide throughout his career and gained a large following as he won a Kosciuszko in Sydney, as well as placing in the race on two other occasions, on top of going close in several other Group events.

Young Archie had a close association with the cult hero galloper in his heyday and while he will never get to ride the retired gelding in a race, he will take some solace that he was able to partner him in trials and his trackwork.

Archie often strapped Far Too Easy on race day, as well.

Trainer David is of course Archie’s father, but he is also his master for his riding apprenticeship.

It could be a challenging dynamic for David to be the boss at home and at the stables, but the smiling teenager says they make it work just fine.

“It's good to have my Dad as my master,” the keen hoop said.

“He's not the easiest at times, but he's good. He keeps me on the straight and narrow.

“I decided from quite a young age that I wanted to ride as Dad's been training for a while now.

“It's been something that's always been in the back of my mind for a while.

“It was probably when I was about eight to 10 years of age, I was really interested and started riding a lot.”

Ahead of his maiden rides, Archie has been mentored by retired Group 1-winner hoop Michael Cahill, Gold Coast jockey Danny Peisley and has even received a few words of wisdom from champion rider Craig Williams. 

“Obviously you want to be like the best, so you try to strive for the best and that's what I'll be doing,” Archie said.

“You've got to stay dedicated and just keep a check on it and just doing the things necessary

“There's a lot of people that I look up to and help me along the way, which has been super for my career.”

While David always knew his son was determined to make his mark in the racing game, he initially felt his height and weight would limit his opportunities as a hoop.

With his riding weight listed for 52kg on Saturday, the debutant jockey has worked feverishly in recent months on his diet and health to keep his weight at a manageable level.

Archie picked up a few tricks about horsemanship while mustering dairy cattle as a young fella.

He has worked with noted fitness guru Ron Johnson to keep his weight stable.

“To begin with, our thought would be that Archie would become a trainer and he would probably be too big to be an apprentice jockey,” David recalled.

“But, as time went on, he became very dedicated to keep his weight under control.  

“That was probably around about three or four years ago that he indicated that he wanted to take that journey as an apprentice.

“There's been a massive improvement in Archie's riding since we've relocated here to the Gold Coast. 

“He's been really well received from a lot of trainers who are putting him on of a morning, whether it be gallops, jump-outs or trials. 

“There's been a massive improvement in this last three months, especially.”

The McColm stable has mainly raced their horses on the city and provincial circuit in recent years, but David says they are hoping to acquire a few country-level horses for Archie to partner with through 2026.

The 64-year-old David is optimistic his son has a great career ahead of him.

“I feel that Archie's got a good future,” he said.

“He's a level-headed boy; he looks after himself. 

"He does a lot of homework at home within the racing industry. 

“We all look forward to hopefully watching him develop into a nice rider.”