Latest news with #TonyGollan
News.com.au
11 hours ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Trainer Peter Snowden banking on gear change bringing out best from Xidaki in Eye Liner Stakes
Sydney trainer Peter Snowden hopes another gear change will do the trick for his underperforming gelding Xidaki in the $200,000 Listed Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich on Saturday. The Ciaron Maher -trained Warnie ($2.40) is definitely the horse to beat in the 1350m race but Xidaki poses a genuine threat if he can rediscover the form that led to his last victory, in the $300,000 Group 3 Winx Guineas (1600m) at Caloundra last July. Snowden decided to put a cross-over nose band on the gelding this campaign because the four-year-old was 'over-racing badly' but the results have been lacklustre. Xidaki finished seventh in the Group 3 Hall Mark Stakes (1200m) at Randwick in April, ninth in the Listed Takeover Target Stakes (1200m) at Gosford on May 10 and seventh in the Group 3 BRC Sprint (1350m) at Doomben two weeks later. He is rated as a $7.50 chance in the Eye Liner Stakes behind Warnie and the Tony Gollan -trained Devastate ($7). 'I've had a cross-over noseband on him this time in because he was struggling last time in and I felt it cost him a couple of races,'' Snowden said. 'But it seems he has been resenting it this preparation because he's been getting too far back in his races. 'So I've taken the noseband off for Saturday and hope he can settle closer in the run. 'Ipswich is a track where you have to stay positive and he has drawn five. I don't want him to get too far back from there. 'I'm confident he has the tactical speed to be in the first five or six in the run. 'He's going great at home and I can't believe he won't be running well on what he has been showing me in his trackwork.' Lindsay Park star War Machine emphatically won the BRC Sprint before impressively taking out the $3m Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) three weeks later at Eagle Farm. Xidaki crossed the winning post almost five lengths behind War Machine in the BRC Sprint but on the bright side, Snowden was pleased with how his galloper hit the line. 'He got too far back last start and had a lot of work to do but he was one of those finishing hardest late,'' Snowden said. 'The horse that won it (War Machine) went on to win the Stradbroke Handicap. 'If he can hold his spot on Saturday it will go a long way to helping his chances at Ipswich.'' It will also comfort Snowden knowing that Xidaki was a narrow runner-up to Ostraka in the $1m Group 3 Silver Eagle (1300m) at Randwick last October but finished ahead of the Ben, Will and JD Hayes -trained War Machine. It's fair to say that Snowden is due for some luck in this Queensland winter carnival. His mare Tashi has twice just missed the chocolates - in the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes (1200m) and Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes (1300m) - while the appropriately named gelding Need Some Luck finished half a length behind winner Compelling Truth in the Listed Hinkler Handicap (1200m) last Saturday at Eagle Farm.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Comment: Why Melbourne Cup champion Knight's Choice is no certainty to win Queensland Horse of the Year honour
Queensland produced its first Melbourne Cup winner but there is a chance that not even the history-making feat of Knight's Choice will be enough to clinch Horse of the Year honours in his own state. When $91 bolter Knights's Choice stunned the world to become the first Queensland-trained Melbourne Cup winner last November, he would have been hot favourite to become the Queensland Horse of the Year. The credentials of Knight's Choice may still be impossible to ignore – it is the Melbourne Cup after all. But Antino says hello. Given the Horse of the Year is for the 2024/25 racing season, Antino's astonishing 6½-length Group 1 Toorak Handicap romp last spring, with an out-of-the-box ride from Blake Shinn, counts towards voting. So too do Antino's two Group 1 placings in the Melbourne spring. And recent in our minds is Antino's devastating Group 1 Doomben Cup romp which was so authoritative that Tony Gollan's star is now the $6 second pick for the Cox Plate and behind only Via Sistina in betting markets. What did we just witness?! 🤯 KNIGHT'S CHOICE holds on to win the 2024 Lexus Melbourne Cup! 🎥 @wwos | #MelbourneCup | #MelbCupCarnival — Victoria Racing Club (@FlemingtonVRC) November 5, 2024 • Antino also conjured an incredible Hollindale Stakes triumph on a bog track which didn't seem to worry him or Shinn. The other horse to consider in the Queensland Horse of the Year race is the new kid on the block Cool Archie. It is entirely possible young colt Cool Archie could win Australian 2YO Horse of the Year, yet finish third in the Queensland Horse of the Year title. Chris Munce was scratching his head to try to think of the last Australian two-year-old to win five races in a row, culminating in a Group 1 triumph. Cool Archie WINS the G1 J.J. Atkins! ðŸ�† @munceracing — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 14, 2025 • 'He could be anything': Munce hot on Cool Archie's future That's exactly what his JJ Atkins champion did and he has been unbeaten this campaign on wet and dry tracks and a variety of distances from 1000m to stretching to the 1600m of the JJ. Clearly, he is a freak. Even if you believe the Melbourne Cup winner should win Queensland Horse of the Year, you must at least concede it's at least a fascinating topic of conversation. The voting is done by a panel of about 25 industry stakeholders and they will have a nice problem on their hands when they sit down to vote in the coming months, with the award to be announced later this year. Antino is an absolute star! The Queenslander dominates the Doomben Cup for @tonygollan ðŸ�† @blake_shinn — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 24, 2025 In some previous years, it has been a barren wasteland for Queensland horses in terms of Group 1 wins. But this season has been an outstanding one for horses from the Sunshine State performing at the elite level. Sometimes, Horse of the Year honours nationally and in various states can be a one-horse race and largely a bit of a snore-fest. But not this year in Queensland.
News.com.au
5 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
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. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! '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! — First Light Racing (@FirstLight_FLR) May 28, 2025 • 'The boys have done it': Hayes proud of sons' landmark Stradbroke success 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.'
News.com.au
12-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Tony Gollan's great hope Transatlantic gets run in Group 1 Stradbroke with Kimochi rule out
Two years of Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap heartache have eased for Tony Gollan, with his great hope Transatlantic getting a start as second emergency after a leading contender was ruled out by vets. Gary Portelli 's Group 1-winning Yulong-owned mare Kimochi was ruled out by vets on Friday morning with Queensland chief steward Josh Adams saying there was a tendon concern. It means Gollan galloper Transatlantic, who looked set to miss the Stradbroke field despite winning last Saturday's Listed Spear Chief Handicap at Eagle Farm, gets an unexpected start. Chris Waller mare Firestorm had been scratched from the Stradbroke earlier this week. Angela Jones is set to ride Transatlantic, meaning Toby Edmonds will have to find another rider for his lightweight Stradbroke filly Spicy Martini. Champion Queensland trainer Gollan had narrowly missed the Stradbroke field in the last two years with Antino (2023) and Freedom Rally (2024) and it looked like he was going to suffer the same fate with Transatlantic until Friday morning's vet news. Before Kimochi was scratched, Transatlantic had been a $17 chance in the Stradbroke betting market.
News.com.au
10-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
2025 Stradbroke Handicap field: Tony Gollan's gun galloper Transatlantic made second emergency
The Instructor has grabbed the last spot in Saturday's Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap starting field, with Tony Gollan's great hope Transatlantic stranded outside the field as the second emergency. Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, The Instructor was the 29th horse in ballot order but snared the last spot in the 18-horse final field when it was declared on Tuesday morning. It will give young Victorian jockey Jett Stanley a chance to score a Stradbroke fairytale. Rothfire was given the all-clear for Stradbroke takeoff by trainer Rob Heathcote and was an acceptor, with James McDonald booked to ride, in Saturday's $3m Stradbroke. Rothfire will still face more vets' scrutiny through the week but the Heathcote camp is delighted with his progress from a minor foot injury that had at one stage threatened to rule the grand warrior out of the Stradbroke. Lindsay Park has the two Stradbroke favourites – War Machine and Rise At Dawn. They had been sweating on a start for their second seed Rise At Dawn, who had been number 24 in the ballot order, but he easily made the field. Chris Waller 's sprinter Coleman is the first emergency with Gollan's great Stradbroke hope, Transatlantic, the second emergency. Star jockey @ZacLloydx will ride Bosustow on Saturday as he attempts to defend the Stradbroke Handicap title he won last year aboard Stefi Magnetica. At Eagle Farm this morning, he spoke to Racenet's @daniel_pace17 about the 3yo's chances. — Racenet (@RacenetTweets) June 9, 2025 • On Monday, Gollan told Racenet he was resigned to missing the Stradbroke starting field with Transatlantic who won the Listed Spear Chief at Eagle Farm last Saturday. Gollan narrowly missed qualifying Antino (2023) and Freedom Rally (2024) and both of those horses were instead deployed to win the Wayne Wilson Mile on Stradbroke day. If Transatlantic doesn't gain a Stradbroke start, he will race in the Wayne Wilson Mile. There is a racing rule in Queensland that means that Transatlantic wasn't eligible for a Stradbroke weight penalty after his win in the Spear Chief. He could have been potentially re-handicapped if he had won a race that offered $95,000 or more to the winner – but the Spear Chief first prizemoney was $92,000. If Transatlantic does not make the Stradbroke field, young gun Brisbane jockey Angela Jones will ride Toby Edmonds' three-year-old filly Spicy Martini. Racenet's @bendorries76 was at Breakfast With The Stars at Eagle Farm this morning as Stradbroke Handicap contenders strutted their stuff. Here's The Inflictor with Cejay Graham in the saddle ... and you can read more about the fairytale galloper here ðŸ'‡ — Racenet (@RacenetTweets) June 9, 2025 GROUP 1 STRADBROKE HANDICAP (1400m) $3 million | Saturday, June 14, 2025 Horse | Barrier | Trainer | Jockey | Weight 1. PRIVATE EYE | (TBC) | Joe Pride | Nash Rawiller | 57kg 2. ROTHFIRE | (TBC) | Robert Heathcote | James McDonald | 55.5kg 3. DESERT LIGHTNING | (TBC) | Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman | Tommy Berry | 54.5kg 4. KIMOCHI | (TBC) | Gary Portelli | Craig Williams | 54kg 5. YELLOW BRICK | (TBC) | Tony & Maddysen Sears | Andrew Mallyon | 53.5kg 6. GOLDEN MILE | (TBC) | James Cummings | Jason Collett | 53.5kg 7. WAR MACHINE | (TBC) | Ben, Will & JD Hayes | Tim Clark | 53kg 8. PAYLINE | (TBC) | Chris & Corey Munce | Kyle Wilson-Taylor | 53kg 9. PUNCH LANE | (TBC) | Anthony & Sam Freedman | Rachel King | 53kg 10. FRONT PAGE | (TBC) | Matthew Dale | Damien Thornton | 52.5kg 11. ROBUSTO | (TBC) | Bjorn Baker | Kerrin McEvoy | 52.5kg 12. FAR TOO EASY | (TBC) | David McColm | Regan Bayliss | 52.5kg 13. RISE AT DAWN | (TBC) | Ben, Will & JD Hayes | Declan Bates | 52.5kg 14. THE INSTRUCTOR | (TBC) | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Jett Stanley | 52kg 15. BOSUSTOW | (TBC) | Annabel & Rob Archibald | Zac Lloyd | 51.5kg 16. THE INFLICTOR | (TBC) | Craig Cousins | Cejay Graham | 51kg 17. FIRESTORM | (TBC) | Chris Waller | Not Notified | 51kg 18. SPICY MARTINI | (TBC) | Toby Edmonds & Stephen McLean | Not Notified | 46.9kg Emergencies 19e. COLEMAN | (TBC) | Chris Waller | Not Notified | 50kg 20e. TRANSATLANTIC | (TBC) | Tony Gollan | Not Notified | 51kg 21e. WATERFORD | (TBC) | Chris Waller | Not Notified | 51kg 22e. PIER | (TBC) | Darryn & Briar Weatherley | Mark Du Plessis | 51kg 23e. WARNIE | (TBC) | Ciaron Maher | Not Notified | 51kg
