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By Ray Hickson

On the biggest stage in racing, standing at Royal Randwick with the winner of the world’s richest country race in his care all Archie McColm could feel was at home.

Not the home he has now but where he wants to be one day.

The 16-year-old son of trainer David McColm is starting on the road to joining the jockey ranks.

He played strapper as the family’s star Far Too Easy finally won The Kosciuszko, getting the better of dual winner Front Page, following placings in both 2022 and 2023 but his dreams are in the saddle.

Archie McColm, pictured with his father David, is on the road to becoming a jockey. (Pic: Steve Hart).

Archie, like most young racing fans and emerging jockeys, idolises the likes of James McDonald, Nash Rawiller - and he particularly likes Zac Purton’s style – and wonders if Group 1 glory will come his way in the future.

“Success for me would be a few Group 1s in 10 years time or so,’’ Archie said.

“I believe I can do it, I’ve just got to keep my weight down and make sure I’m disciplined enough.

“I’ve always been riding and that’s where I want to go. It’s very hardcore and non-stop, very hands on, but I feel like I’m ready for it.”

It’s natural to assume that Archie has been exposed to racing for his whole life, his father was a jockey and has emerged as a prominent trainer in the Northern Rivers over the past few years with the arrival of Far Too Easy on the scene.

That didn’t automatically mean he’d follow in his father’s footsteps, he describes himself as quite sporty and very much into fishing, but it was one morning some six or eight months ago after putting a young horse through its paces the penny dropped.

“It was after my first evens on the grass, I went with another horse and after that I was hooked,’’ he said.

“At the start there was always a bit of hesitation from dad but we’ve eased into it and I’ve done plenty of trackwork and everything now so it’s all starting to take shape.

“It’s a blessing for me that I get to start with my dad. He can tell me what I’m doing wrong, I feel like I can get things wrong too, so I’m very blessed in that way.”

Much of the preparation for Archie to get the go ahead to start life as a jockey has been done, he’ll still need to complete the mandatory number of barrier trials before his father goes looking for the right horse to be his first race ride.

He says it’s hard to escape the excitement of being on a horse’s back, especially when you have a horse like Far Too Easy to practice on.

“That’ll be when the fun begins,’’ he said.

“The thrill of it, once you go out there on a horse and do some ‘4 and 3’ and let them clip along it’s really exhilarating.

“You can definitely feel the difference when you ride a horse like Far Too Easy, he’s a real unit of a thing and he’s just got this presence about him.”

David McColm said the prospect of his son starting an apprenticeship and progressing into race riding is both “exciting and nerve racking”.

His own career as a jockey was curtailed by being too tall and too heavy but he did ride 70 winners in his time – and height is the one thing he hopes doesn’t hamper Archie.

“It’s a path that Archie wants to take, it’s probably not the path I anticipated he would take,’’ McColm said.

“Being a jockey myself I do know the pitfalls, it’s a hazardous game and that does worry both Judy and I. At the end it’s Archie’s decision and we’ll back him 100 per cent.

“I think he’s gifted, he’s beautifully balanced. He’s a little bit tall but he’s beautifully balanced on them and he handles them well so that’s a plus.

“He’s been heavily involved in racing now for the past four years and it’s his passion so I’m not going to stand in his way.”

Ultimately the goal will be for Archie to move beyond his father’s watchful eye.

“He’ll start off with me and depending on how he goes at the end of the day Sydney is where the good apprentices go,’’ he said.

“But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Archie McColm strapping 2024 Kosciuszko winner Far Too Easy on the big stage. (Pic: Bradley Photos).

It’s no surprise that Far Too Easy is a special horse to the McColm family and Archie strapping him on the day he notched his most important win was fitting.

One of Archie’s favourite horses is Alligator Blood so when his father was looking for a horse back in 2020 he pushed for him to consider anything by that horse’s sire All Too Hard.

It led him to buying the horse, under his budget at $45,000, that would become Far Too Easy (so named as it’s the opposite of the sire’s name), a horse that’s not only blessed with talent but the ability to overcome adversity.

And he’s faced a few hurdles, as it’s been well documented, including the floods at Murwillumbah in 2022 and the bout of colitis that almost claimed his life.

“It’s been pretty stressful at times,’’ Archie said.

“The floods really got us but we got through it and the horse got through it. He’s a lovely customer, does his job and keeps delivering every time.

“It was really something to be there at Randwick, very rewarding. I feel like we deserved it and I’m super proud of the horse and the team.”

*This article originally appeared in the January 2025 edition of the Racing NSW magazine

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