Jockey Chris Munce could better his previous best of 85 winners in Brisbane
Brisbane premiership leading jockey Chris Munce could break his personal best if he can bag a few winners over the next week or so.
Munce has a seasons best of 85 winners in Brisbane and he currently sits six short of that mark.
His record was set way back in the 1991 / 1992 season and given all that’s transpired since then he’d love to go one better.
It’s going to be a tough ask though, after the last race this weekend Munce will be going away on holidays with his family meaning he has just two meets left to get the job done.
“I tell you what, I’ll give it a good crack,” he said.
“If I can top 80 I will still be over the moon. My main goal was to just get the premiership.
“I have had a number of trainers helping me along the way and it’s been good, particularly without the support of one single stable.
“Moving back to Brisbane is the best thing we could have done as a family. I am enjoying my time up here and to have achieved the goal I set out to, I’m pretty happy about it.”
When it comes to racing in Brisbane the 80 mark is a genuine effort, the only other jockey to surpass it since Munce did was Scott Seamer back in 2000 / 2001 when he snatched a massive 96 wins.
The overall record in Brisbane though belongs to Mick Dittman who came closest to hitting the 100 barrier when he rode 97.5 wins in the 1979 / 1980 season.
Munce isn’t the only one looking for a personal milestone though, Robert Heathcote is also closing in on his own target.
Heathcote now has 58.5 winners for the season meaning he’s almost a certainty to move past the 60 wins barrier.
Only two other trainers in Queensland have managed to do that, Gerald Ryan has done it twice while the record belongs to the great Bruce McLachlan who did it six times including the best ever mark of 78 in the 1987 / 1988 season.
Heathcote has always managed to find the odd winner but it’s his stables consistency which has pleased him the most this season.
“I have already hit $3 million in prize money this year after being just under last year,” he said.
“I have a good infrastructure working now. What has pleased me the most is that I can go away and everything ticks over as smooth as. That’s important and it’s a sign that things are going pretty well.”
Heathcote has a number of good chances this weekend and he’s confident he may even get into the sixties before then with his Eagle Farm team looking strong for Wednesday.
After this season signs off though both Heathcote and Munce will be looking to the spring where they both are hoping in some of the bigger races.
“It would be good if I could line up a few nice horses for the carnivals, but if that doesn’t work out I would like to target another premiership and having a better winter carnival next year,” Munce said.
