A Ringo Starr song … ‘It don’t come easy’ … could well be the theme tune for trainer David McColm’s and a six-year-old gelding he trains when they head to Randwick to contest the $2 million Kosciuszko on October 19.
That horse’s name, ironically, is Far Too Easy … a highly talented, solid, professional performer who has won eight times and finished in the minor placings on five occasions in twenty starts while amassing $1 336 675 in prize-money earnings. Not bad for $45 000 purchase.
But if you think that is impressive, that has nothing on the serious life challenging obstacles that both McColm and Far Too Easy have had to overcome in a journey that almost brought both of them undone at different times.
There was that moment in time when a serious health issue almost stopped McColm in his tracks.
A quiet morning break for breakfast back in 2010 turned nasty when McColm suffered a mini-stroke, which was caused by a condition (a cavernoma) which he had since birth, but was unaware of, with obvious serious consequences.
“When I did have that bleed on my brain, my thoughts of ever training again … well, I didn’t think I would ever do that again,” said McColm matter-of-factly.
A two-year recovery period took McColm away from the racing game but, while he had doubts about ever being able to come back, the intention lingered with McColm never relinquishing his trainer’s license. The five-acre property he purchased in Murwillumbah also had possible, positive connotations in that regard moving forward.
And comeback he did … a decision made largely on the prompting of Don Wardlaw, for whom McColm trained with notable success in the 1990’s and with whom he has remained firm family friends for such a long period of time.
The McColm and Wardlaw families form the ownership group of Far Too Easy, who was their second purchase when McColm resumed training.
Fast forward to earlier this year when Far Too Easy was struck down with a major health issue of his own.
“It occurred in mid-April. Far Too Easy was diagnosed with acute colitis, which is a bug in the colon,” explained McColm in a recent Sky Channel interview, “and it affected him severely.
“He was on a drip for five days. He was on plasma for four days. His legs swelled up. He had swelling beneath his jaw, under his chest and stomach.
“In those first three days there was a point I really didn’t think he was going to make it but, being the horse he is … a fighter … with treatment and care he came through it.
“He was in the paddock. We nursed him along and helped build him back up, and it took him two months to regain his weight.
“We decided after two months he was right to enter the work program and that has brought us to where we are now.
“I brought him back into work and gave myself a bit of a buffer for the Kosciuszko, thinking that he would take a little bit longer to come to hand this prep, but he has come to hand that quickly … that’s why I’m starting him tomorrow at Eagle Farm.
“We are a month out from the Kosciuszko, so that would have meant trialling him a couple of times or giving him this 1000m run which just fits into the preparation perfectly.
“It’s a good stepping stone to the Kosciuszko.”
Far Too Easy is already a two-time Kosciuszko ‘veteran’ having finished second and third in the last two editions of the event and his highly regarded reputation was still very much in play this time round, a factor which saw him snapped up as a confirmed runner soon after the lucky sweepstake winners, who nominate their runners in the race, were announced.
“He was the first cab off the rank,” said McColm. ‘The people who picked him this year actually won a slot last year. They rang me early last year and said, is he available? I said yes, he is.
“The person I was talking to said he just needed to confirm with the rest of the syndicate, and he said he would get back to me. Before he could do that though, another ticket holder rang and asked if they could have him, and I said yes you can.
“When the original caller did ring back and I said, look he’s gone, he was devastated, but he said to me at the time … ‘if we win a slot again next year, I won’t make that same mistake again.’
“True to his word, he rang me from Inverall straight after the sweepstake draw and he said, ‘Mate, I’m not making that same mistake again,” and he asked the question. I said, yes, he is. He said, “it’s a done deal!’
What could so easily have become a hard luck story … and we haven’t even mentioned the time McColm’s Murwillumbah stables were inundated with flood waters that rose and swept through the place to a frightening degree … has been turned into an inspirational one by the strong mindset and depth of character of a horse and trainer who were brought together through the urgings of McColm’s young son.
Archie McColm is a fan of the multiple Group 1 winner Alligator Blood and he told his father he should look at horses at the sales who were by all Too Hard, the sire of Alligator Blood.
Far Too Easy was the purchase made, in part at least, on that basis, with the McColm’s little knowing that Far Too Easy would have to exhibit the same tough mentality, focus and determination that Alligator Blood had displayed after having delicate ‘kissing spine’ surgery to fight is way back into competitive action after his serious setback.
Without that trait in his DNA, who knows what might have happened.
“It is amazing the way things have worked out,” acknowledged McColm. From what happened to me… and then for me to end up purchasing him, it was obviously meant to be.
“When we purchased him, you are obviously hoping to get a nice horse … and he has exceeded that. He is a really, really, tough horse. He overcomes adversity. He tries. He just wants to go out there and do the best job he can … and that’s what he does.
“You know, we have a bond with all of the horses we have in the stable, but when you have a horse like him … it is special. He is part of our lives.”
So, here McColm and Far Too Easy are now … lining up a stepping stone run at Eagle Farm tomorrow and then it will all be about adding the finishing touches to Far Too Easy preparation for The Kosciuszko – Take 3.
For obvious reasons, it will be quite a moment if he wins it.