While it might not seem it for jockey-turned-trainer Chris Munce, it has been 25 years since he partnered champion mare Dane Ripper to victory in the Stradbroke Handicap.
A 28-year-old at the time, Munce’s ability to ride light won him the seat on Bart Cummings’ three-year-old filly in the famous Group 1 race.
Now, as he prepares Palaisipan for this Saturday’s Dane Ripper Stakes at Eagle Farm, Munce reflects on his 1997 Stradbroke win.
“It’s gone quick, I tell you,” Munce told HorseBetting.
“I was in Sydney at the time. I had moved to Sydney and was flying back up (to Brisbane) for the Winter Carnival.
“She was only a three-year-old and didn’t have a lot of weight in the Stradbroke and I think Darren Beadman had ridden her in the start before I got on her and she was beaten as the favourite.
“They just thought with the light weight on her back, they’d roll the dice and run her in the Stradbroke and it paid off for them.”
Dane Ripper went into the 1997 Stradbroke Handicap as a $17 chance with only 50.5kg on her back, and Munce said he went into the race with a bit of confidence given how good of a feel he had given her in track work.
Despite it being Munce’s only ride on the 12-time winner, her later feats came as no surprise to the star hoop.
“She was a lovely mare,” he said.
“She was a really nice mare. Just a beautiful mover, covered the ground, a lovely relaxed mare and had a good turn of foot about her.
“I think that’s what stood her in stead when she went down to Melbourne for the Cox Plate – they were obviously confident that she’d run the 2000m – but she was just a lovely mare to ride.”
Jumping from barrier nine in the 18-horse field, Munce recalled his mount getting a nice run in transit in the second half of the field, before she let down with her customary turn of foot to set out after the leader and eventual runner-up, Quick Flick.
“From memory, she was back in the ruck a little bit and I think Quick Flick had kicked clear and he’d been racing well at the time and was hailed the winner at about the 100m mark,” he said.
“I managed to get him down late on the line. She got a pretty trouble-free run throughout the race.
“She had that nice turn of foot that when I wanted her to go, she just accelerated for me.”
This coming weekend on Stradbroke Day 2022, Munce has two runners in the mix at Eagle Farm.
Palaisipan will likely line up in the race named after her trainer’s first Stradbroke winner, the Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes (1300m) for fillies and mares, while two-year-old colt Allude could feature in the Listed Oxlade Stakes (1300m).
With some rain falling in Brisbane in the early hours of Monday, the weather could wreak havoc on Tuesday morning’s scheduled trials at Doomben.
Should Allude get the chance to trial on Tuesday and come through that run well, Munce will look to race him on Saturday.
It has been an enjoyable Brisbane Winter Carnival for the Munce stable, with in-form mare Boomnova saluting at Eagle Farm last Saturday in the Listed Lightning Stakes (1000m).
The speedy four-year-old will now be spelled before returning for spring and summer targets, which could once again include the Magic Millions QTIS Open (1300m) on the Gold Coast in January.
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