The horse, of course, is the hero and the co-trainers trainers deserve a huge chunk of the credit , but the achievement of Martin Harley in piloting the Chris and Corey Munce trained Cool Archie to a fifth successive victory in the Group 1 JJ Atkins, two-and-a-half years after suffering potentially career threatening injuries in a race fall at Doomben back in January 2023, is the big, back story of an amazing result for the entire Cool Archie team.
The fall and the massive, unwavering effort Harley put into his recovery is best told by Harley himself, and he did that when he described the process of all he had gone through in an interview with HRO back in June 2023, an interview which is well worth repeating here.
“Considering we had only gone a hundred meters after the start and weren’t at full speed or anything, it was a pretty simple fall, but a pretty bad smash-up,” explained Harley when he returned to riding after the fall in June 2023.
“I had a broken shoulder. I had three broken vertebra in my neck … C0, C1 and C2 … and, yeah, a bit of bruising around the ribs.
“Like many jockeys, it wasn’t the first time it had happened to me. I broke my C1 and C2 before in a fall on the all-weather track at Lingfield in the UK … and I did my back many years ago when I was an apprentice, so, if there is any truth that things happen in threes, then I am well and truly done now.
“I don’t think the doctors expected me to be back in four-and-a-half months, but I’m here and I feel good. I’ve been working at it all of the time,” continued Harley.
“Even in the hospital, at one stage they said I couldn’t be discharged until I could climb a flight of stairs and walk on my own. They wouldn’t let me out until then … and I said, I can do that now.
“I was pretty determined to get out of there. The food’s not the best in hospital, so I wanted to get back to at least having a bit of nice food. So, I managed to climb the flight of stairs and got the green light from them a couple of hours later and I got signed out … so that was pretty good.
“Obviously, there was still a lot of work to do from there. I was in a halo for seven weeks, but I just kept working at it and I think I managed to stay ahead of schedule.
“It’s all relative. When you have a fall and incur injuries like that, what rides you miss in the short term doesn’t really matter at all.
“That is not what is important. What is important is that you are able to recover and walk again … and get back to riding.
“That’s what I am grateful for… and I wouldn’t swop that for any ride.”
Harley returned to the winners’ enclosure just his second ride back on the Barry Lockwood trained Sunfall … and then finished second on the $101 chance Reo in the 2023 Queensland Guineas. Amongst other victories that followed, Harley won the $3 million Magic Millions Guineas aboard Abounding in January 2024.
Once again, it was game on.
That Magic Millions win, in itself, already made all of the hard work and weeks of fighting through the pain and discomfort of his rehabilitation well worth it for Harley, but, for any jockey, winning at the elite level always remains the target.
Harley had done that five times prior to linking up with the Munce team and Cool Archie … and those five Group 1’s wins behind his name included a short-head win on the $20 outsider Goldream in the 2015 King Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Now here Harley was completing the climb back up to the top by winning the J J Atkins at Group 1 level aboard Cool Archie for his sixth Group 1 win and his first Group 1 win in Australia.
“I thought for this story to have the ending it did would be too good to be true,” said Harley post-race, referring to the Cool Archie, when he could have been talking about himself and the part he played in a big win.
But that is not his go.
A humble Harley prefers to redirect the accolades coming his way for his role in the win. This, in spite of producing a flawless big race ride on Cool Archie in the JJ Atkins on the back of his four other top-class rides on the Team Munce trained star two-year-old in the colt’s sweeping five race unbeaten streak.
How did he put it …
“I get lucky now and again”, said Harley, referring his to his latest success. “It goes to show that a lot of these jockeys … if they get an opportunity on a real fancied one, most of us can get the job done.
“What a great little horse. He is tough. He stepped up every time … and it’s been a massive training performance by Chris and Corey.”
Praise for the horse and the co-trainers, but, for his part, Harley says he just “gets lucky now and again.”
What a champion!
