With four Queensland premierships and known for a long time as the best trainer north of the Tweed River, Tony Gollan has established himself as one of Australia’s premier trainers.
Editors note: This article was first published on March 26, 2018.
Last year alone Tony’s stable trained 107 winners. Thankfully for us, Tony has a watertight memory and was able to recall which of his more than 1,500 wins are his favourite when we sat down with him.
Having recently come on board with miRunners to train Your Song x Sheezenodoubt, here’s Tony’s top five career wins in no particular order…
1: Group 1 Doomben 10,000: Spirit Of Boom & Temple Of Boom Quinella
What a race in which to start the list. In a race that most Queensland race fans remember, Tony produced a masterful display to quinella the Group 1 Doomben 10,000. Spirit of Boom pushed out on cornering into the clear and came with a determined run to get up late to deny his stablemate and older half brother Temple Of Boom by a half neck.
2: Group 1 Galaxy with Temple Of Boom
For Tony, there is no doubt that Temple Of Boom and his half-brother Spirit Of Boom have been the basis for his emergence as a Group One-winning trainer. For Temple Of Boom, his career highlight came in 2012 when he was successful in the Group One Galaxy at Randwick, which marked Tony’s first Group 1 win.
3: Group 1 William Reid with Spirit Of Boom
Once again, Spirit of Boom makes the list of Tony’s most memorable victories. The win at the Group 1 William Reid Stakes was nothing short of thrilling at Flemington in 2014.
When the runners flashed past the post around half a length separated the first five runners and connections of both Spirit of Boom and Fontelina were unsure just who had won. With the finest of margins, the photo was displayed on the big screen and it showed Spirit of Boom, on the outside, had won the race!
4: Magic Millions QTIS Open – I’m A Rippa
I’m A Rippa completed the lofty elevation from Class 3 winner two starts back to $1 million hero when he fought bravely from the front to win the Magic Millions QTIS Open earlier this year.
As Tony goes on to say “he’s not the best horse I’ve trained but he’s a tough little fella and it’s great to buy a Queensland horse, come back here and race in a $1 million race. It’s just phenomenal.”
He certainly is a Rippa! The very well backed I’m A Rippa leads all the way for a tough victory on #MagicMillions Day for @StephenBaster & @tonygollan! pic.twitter.com/0DkPYXOpAy
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) January 13, 2018
5: Group 3 George Moore – Group 3: Didntcostalot, Fontelina, Gundy Spirit trifecta
There is no better way to cap off the list than with Tony’s trifecta at the George Moore stakes in 2015 with Didntcostalot, Fontelina and Gundy Spirit finishing in 1st, 2nd and third respectively
miRunners ambassador and leading Queensland jockey, Tegan Harrison was able to set up a memorable Group race trifecta guiding Didntcostalot to a blistering win.
Didntcostalot had the race won as far out as the 600 metre mark, finishing with one of the fastest times at 1min08.17secs. A memorable race for the Queensland trainer.
Own your own horse trained by Tony Gollan
Queensland’s best and most admired trainer has joined the miRunners stables with Tony Gollan coming on board to train Your Song x Sheeznodoubt.
For only $275 plus a monthly fee of $15 for your first unit ($5 for any additional units), you can own this well-bred filly from one of Australia’s most exciting sires, trained by an experienced Group 1 winner.
