Brisbane trainer Tony Gollan heads to Royal Ascot to watch future acquisition Hey Tru Blue
Brisbane's premier trainer Tony Gollan can't wait for the 'pretty cool' experience of watching a colt that he will soon train in Queensland run around at the famous Royal Ascot carnival in England this week.
Gollan has bought into a Blue Point colt called Hey Tru Blue, who will run in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes (1000m) on Thursday.
First Light Racing purchased the colt for 175,000 guineas ($A383,000) in last month's Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up sale in the UK and Gollan jumped at the opportunity to buy in.
'We'll go to the sale on Monday, the races on Tuesday and then we run on Thursday so it's going to be a really good week,' Gollan told Racenet.
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'I think there's 16 or 18 owners of the horse flying over so we'll spend a bit of time with the group involved.
'There's a bit of business to be done but no doubt we'll enjoy ourselves on the trip as well and that's what it's all about.
'When we purchased the horse and this was kind of the plan, I thought 'gees this is wishful thinking here' but it's been fortuitous and now it's going to happen.
'I went to Royal Ascot seven years ago, just once for a look, and I must admit I was blown away by the spectacle of what it is over there.
'They only have seven races (each day) but the quality and just everything that goes with that carnival, it's pretty special.
'Just to be there and have a horse running, it's pretty cool.'
🥈 HEY TRU BLUE 🥈
What a sensational debut from our Blue Point colt, snapped up just four weeks ago for €175,000 at the @Tattersalls1766 Breeze Up Sales. Now officially named Hey Tru Blue by his proud all-Australian ownership group! https://t.co/grKDx8JJHH
— First Light Racing (@FirstLight_FLR) May 28, 2025
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Gollan flew to London from Brisbane on Saturday night without the Stradbroke Handicap crown he craves after Transatlantic finished ninth in the $3 million Group 1 over 1400m.
But he did score a consolation prize when four-year-old mare Floozie saluted in the Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes (1300m) with Angela Jones on-board.
Now Gollan is looking forward to donning some elegant attire and experiencing the tradition and pageantry that Royal Ascot offers in the five-day summer carnival.
It is the same racetrack where Australia's unbeaten superstar Black Caviar narrowly defeated French-trained galloper Moonlight Cloud in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2012.
'You're a trainer here in Brisbane and then all of a sudden you've got a horse racing at Royal Ascot next week,' Gollan said.
'That's what's so great about our game, we're a global game and to be part of something like this is amazing.
'We only owned it (Hey Tru Blue) eight weeks and we'll be running in what is the greatest week of racing in Europe so it's pretty cool.'
Hey Tru Blue, trained by George Boughey, late last month finished runner-up in his race debut to Rock On Thunder at Leicester, with William Buick riding.
'The trainer's very happy with the horse, who looks really well in the footage I've seen of him, albeit I'm not an expert in what's going on over there by any stretch of the imagination,' Gollan said.
'I'll have a bit of a look at him while I'm there.
'I'll be at the races on Thursday. Hopefully he runs well and we'll see what he does for the rest of his preparation in England and then we'll bring him back to Australia later in the year.'
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