'Team Munce' shape up for first winner at Doomben

By Glenn Davis

Chris Munce knows the feeling of success, but nothing will give him greater satisfaction than to train his first city winner in his new training partnership with son Corey at Doomben on Wednesday.

'Team Munce' has had 10 starters for two placings since joining forces at the start of the season and will rely on three acceptors at Doomben in the hope of producing their first winner.

Dwindling Spirit will spearhead the trio in the Class 5 Handicap along with Fratianno in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Maiden Plate while Madam Borodina is second emergency in the Maiden Plate.

“It will be a great thrill to train a winner with Corey and it will be up there as one of the proudest moments of my life,” Chris said.

“Corey has done a lot of work behind the scenes and the public don’t know him well enough.

“I wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a trainer for the long term, but he’s given me the right vibe.

“He’s got the passion and he likes to win.”

Chris believes Fratianno and Dwindling Spirit will be hard to beat.

Fratianno is coming off a fifth to Bella Khadijah in two-year-old grade over 1350 metres at Doomben on July 27 while Dwindling Spirit was a last start Benchmark 65 winner over 1350 metres at Doomben on July 17.

Dwindling Spirit has been trained at the Munces Beaudesert property, south of Brisbane, where he has 12 horses in work to complement his 46 boxes at Eagle Farm.

“Dwindling Spirit has been trained out of the farm at Beaudesert and he seems to enjoy the country life,” Chris said.

“The property used to be our spelling farm but in the last couple of months I’ve turned it into a second training stable.

“Fratianno also should run well.

"He was a good fourth at Ipswich two starts back and he was up in grade in a race which was devoid of speed when he ran fifth last start."

Chris earned his place in the Queensland Hall of Fame after a hugely successful career as a jockey, winning 42 Group 1’s including the grand slam in the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups, Cox Plate and Golden Slipper.

He claimed his first Group 1 win as a trainer with Palaisipan in last year’s Tatt’s Tiara at Eagle Farm.