Corey Munce’s career as a horse trainer is flying, despite his dream to be a pilot stuck at the terminal

Father-and-son trainers Chris and Corey Munce are enjoying a dream winter carnival which they’re hoping will culminate in a Group 1 victory this Saturday at Eagle Farm.

Ever since he was a kid, a starry-eyed Corey Munce wanted to be a pilot.

And although that dream never came to fruition, he’s still flying sky-high - only now as a thoroughbred trainer alongside his dad and former champion jockey Chris Munce.

“I am loving it and I wouldn’t do it any other way,” Corey said about his first season of training with his dad and Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Chris.

“I love working with him and he’s taught me just about everything I know.

“We work extremely well together as a team.

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“I sort of struggled with the idea of partnerships and why they’re necessary.

“But now I see why because there are two sets of eyes looking at everything and making sure it all runs smoothly, and that’s the power of a partnership.”

It’s easy to see why the affable Corey is loving life as a trainer, with the Munce stable crushing it during this year’s Queensland Winter Carnival, and they’re not done with yet.

The Munces train the $4 favourite Cool Archie in the Group 1 JJ Atkins (1600m) and also boast $34 chance Payline in the prestigious Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) feature at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Irish jockey Martin Harley puts the head down as he pilots Cool Archie to his fourth consecutive victory, in the Group 2 BRC Sires' Produce (1400m) at Eagle Farm on May 31. Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography

It’s been a whirlwind introduction to training for Corey, who achieved his childhood dream of gaining a pilot’s licence before Covid hit but then struggled to land a job in a cut-throat industry.

“For the life of me that’s all I ever wanted to do,” he said about becoming a pilot.

“I always genuinely loved (horse) racing but I wanted to do what I thought was right for me at the time and I achieved that.

“But I found it very difficult to get a job and any pilot will tell you it’s the first job that’s the hardest (to secure). I couldn’t get one so I started working with the horses.

“I’ve always loved racing but never really knew how to get into it.

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“When you’re at school and you go to the career expos, you don’t see too many horse trainers there, do you?

“That’s why it’s so prevalent for family members to be involved because there’s no real avenue to being a trainer. I’m very privileged and lucky that Dad is a trainer.”

And did Chris ever put any subtle pressure on his son to head in that direction where early starts on cold winter mornings can make trainers question why they’re even in this game?

“Never at all, it was all me wanting to go that way,” said Corey, who turns 30 on June 22 - the day after Ipswich Cup Day.

“There was expectation that I knew everything and I didn’t and it’s taken me a long time to feel very grounded.

Corey Munce with father Chris Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

“I never became a trainer too early in my opinion. This was the right timing for me, Dad and the business.”

Corey describes the partnership with his 56-year-old father as like “yin and yang”, with him being the cool, collected type and Chris more having the fire in the belly.

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“I’m very much the cool one, although maybe not in the early days when I had my moments,” Corey said with a laugh.

“This game is extremely levelling. I read somewhere the other day that winning and losing are both temporary.

“You enjoy the good days but you never get ahead of yourself. We’re just having a really good winter carnival.

“I can bet you anything that if you did an average value of horses in stables then we’d be certainly down the bottom which means we’re overachieving with the horses we’ve got.”

So what would it mean if Corey can share the exhilarating feeling of winning a Group 1 this Saturday with his proud father Chris.

“I’d probably be a little bit emotional after the race,” he said.

“It’d mean the world to me and to do it with Dad would just be the cherry on top.”

Originally published as Corey Munce’s career as a horse trainer is flying, despite his dream to be a pilot stuck at the terminal