Tony Gollan targets another win with an ex-Godolphin horse at Doomben to continue his flying start to season
The new season is still young but Gollan (13 metro winners at a 28 per cent strike rate) has more wins in city areas than Chris Waller (12) and the likes of Ciaron Maher (6) and Annabel and Rob Archibald (5).
Gollan has won 12 consecutive Brisbane training titles and the key to some of that success is that he is not only formidable when Queensland carnivals are on, but also at off-season time.
In recent weeks he has won races with former James Cummings -trained ex-Godolphin gallopers Pereille and Amur and on Saturday at Doomben he will unleash Fleetwood, another ex-Blue Army galloper.
Fleetwood is the well-fancied $3 favourite to make a winning debut for the Gollan stable when he contests the BM85 Handicap (1110 metres) at Doomben.
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Fleetwood, a five-year-old gelding, won five races for Cummings and tuned up for Saturday's race with a trial win for Gollan at Doomben last month.
Gollan likes the look of him as a Queensland summer carnival prospect, but there is just one small query in his mind about Saturday's race.
'I sort of wish we were running him in a plate race rather than a handicap, as he has probably more weight (61.5kg) than I anticipated in this race,' Gollan said.
'When Pereille won, he was in a set weights race and you are getting in well under what your handicap is.
'But Fleetwood has actually got to carry his true handicap here.
'It certainly gives horses that have got a weight advantage on him a chance to beat him.
'That's my only negative, the weight, but he is certainly good enough.
'If I can secure a smooth enough run, even with the weight, he's hard to beat.
'Ability wise he has probably got a bit on some of these, I think he's a nice horse.
'Hopefully we can do a job with him on Saturday and then put him away and he can come back in the summer carnival and be a really nice horse.
'I definitely see him as a summer carnival horse.'
Gollan said Fleetwood had taken longer to settle into new surroundings than Pereille and other horses that had come to his stable from down south.
But he is cherry ripe now and the star trainer is going to have some fun with him.
'I loved his trial, I love the way the horse is going and the way he has settled in now,' Gollan said.
'I don't totally know where his distance range sits yet, but I really like what I have seen of him.
'These horses obviously come to you very fit and well.'
. @bendorries76 is liking a Tony Gollan horse at Doomben this Saturday as his best bet �
Imagine what you could be buying instead. pic.twitter.com/6vRZfOaLsn
— Racenet (@RacenetTweets) August 14, 2025
As for kicking off the season with a brace of city winners, Gollan said his stable had put significant planning into the off-season campaigns of his horses.
The proof is in the pudding.
'We have had a great start to the season and the work that has been done all winter getting some of these horses ready to go is starting to bear fruit now,' Gollan said.
'There are a lot of horses who can really learn their trade and get some confidence under their belt in this off-season racing.
'A lot of these horses are going to make nice horses in the next 12 months.
'They are learning what winning is all about and they are doing things well.'
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