Latest news with #Group2QueenslandGuineas
Courier-Mail
20-07-2025
- Business
- Courier-Mail
Brisbane trainers Tony Gollan and Jack Bruce hatch plans for ex-Godolphin gallopers
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. Whether it's the Toowoomba Weetwood or the $1m Magic Millions Snippets, Brisbane trainers Tony Gollan and Jack Bruce have already started mapping out plans for their newly acquired gallopers from a recent sale of Godolphin horses. The racing and breeding powerhouse sold close to $2.2m worth of 25 ready-to-race horses last Wednesday as it prepares to enter a public training model from August 1. Deagon trainer Bruce, High Calibre Racing and Clarke Bloodstock forked out $135,000 to buy four-year-old gelding Razors, who finished runner-up to Kintyre in last year's $350,000 Group 2 Queensland Guineas (1600m) at Eagle Farm. • 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! Gollan Racing and Craig Sneesby paid $150,000 for gelding Fleetwood and the stable will also train Pereille, who was bought by Australian Bloodstock for $170,000. Four-year-old Fleetwood came third in the $175,000 Listed Creswick Stakes (1200m) at Flemington in July last year, while Pereille was runner-up to Marble Nine in this month's $175,000 Listed Santa Ana Lane Sprint Series Final (1200m) at the same track. Read: Ramornie-winning jockey plans to retire this year 'Fleetwood is just a progressive horse who we think will do really well up here,' Gollan Racing's general manager Andrew Dunemann said. 'We also picked up Pereille, another horse who's very progressive. 'I do think Fleetwood in particular is a Magic Millions horse. He can go to the Snippets (on the Gold Coast in January) or one of the other top sprinting races.' Dunemann said the major benefit of buying from powerhouse Godolphin was the transparency of the sale. 'The way Godolphin does things is second to none, really,' he said. 'They don't breed horses to sell, they breed them to train, and that means the horses don't have the intervention early on that others do.' Read: Qld carnival wagering hopes 'washed away' by Derby day wet Bruce said the $160,000 Listed Toowoomba Weetwood (1200m) on September 27 at Clifford Park was a potential target for Razors. 'He could be a Weetwood horse if he can sharpen up at 1200m, although he'd probably want to win a couple of times between now and then,' Bruce said. Razors will now be based in Queensland. Photo: Bradley Photos. 'He might be able to sneak into that race with 54kg which is obviously attractive being a Listed race with good prizemoney.' Bruce said Razors' NSW Benchmark rating of 83 would be lowered in Queensland, giving him more racing options for the stakes-placed horse. 'I had my eye on a few of them and I thought he was probably the best value,' Bruce said. 'He has great form and one of the attractions of him is that he's only a two-win horse so we've still got the class system to work our way through in Queensland. 'He's rated 81, the handicapper tells me in Queensland, which is still a good, fair Saturday class rating for a horse who's been stakes-placed and has some serious form on the board. 'In terms of my stable and where I'm tracking, I'm looking for horses like that so he's well worth the price.' Originally published as Brisbane trainers Tony Gollan and Jack Bruce devising plans for ex-Godolphin gallopers
News.com.au
02-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Tony Gollan says Freedom Rally is the ‘forgotten horse' in a very competitive Victory Stakes at Eagle Farm
Tony Gollan has scored the Victory Stakes with a pair of Group 1 stars, but struggles to remember such a big and competitive field with as much depth as will be on show on Saturday. Temple Of Boom (2014) and Antino (last year) have claimed the Victory for Queensland's champion trainer but both had to beat eight and seven rivals respectively. A full field of 16 plus one emergency were declared on Wednesday declared for the Group 2 Victory which is Queensland's traditional winter carnival pipe-opener for the sprinters at Eagle Farm. As Gollan declared one of his four runners was the forgotten contender in the field, he lauded the strength and depth of Saturday's edition of the 1200m sprint which has several contenders including Gollan's Hidden Wealth vying for favouritism. 'Some years going back in time, it was a soft-option weight-for-age race,' Gollan said. 'But this year it's a very good race and this would be as big a Victory Stakes field as we have seen for some time. 'Often there have been eight runners, so it is really a show of the depth of what this carnival has got this year. 'I think there's going to be a good bit of pressure in it and I can't recall a Victory Stakes with such a big field and with so depth. 'It's a weight-for-age race but it will be run somewhat like a handicap. 'There will be enough pressure in it to break up the field, it's a really good start to the carnival.' Hidden Wealth, resuming after last being seen scoring a $1.5m sprint on Magic Millions day, is considered Gollan's leading contender at $5.50 in betting. However, Gollan believes Freedom Rally is well poised to spring an upset at $16. Two starts ago, Freedom Rally finished two lengths off Mr Brightside in the Group 1 Futurity Stakes over 1400m at Caulfield in February. • 'If you look at the four runners of ours, there are probably two runners which stand out,' Gollan said 'Freedom Rally has obviously been to a good level and having him back at home, at Eagle Farm, I think he is the forgotten horse in the race. 'It could be a bit short for him, but he has freshened up nicely. 'Hidden Wealth is a horse on the rise, doing everything right. 'This could be a breakout carnival for him. 'Out of the four, they are my two that probably look like they could go to a good level or above.' Gollan has King Kapa ($15) and Cannonball ($51) rounding out his four-strong attack on the Victory. The top trainer also has a leading contender in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas, with Boomtown Boss and apprentice jockey Emily Lang striving for their third consecutive win. Gollan said the Guineas was a long-range target but there is also the potential for him to try to qualify for the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap later in the carnival. 'He is such an improving horse and, don't forget, he went into his first-up run without a trial,' Gollan said. 'I think he is spot on for the weekend. 'After Saturday, does he go back to a Fred Best Classic to try to get a golden ticket into a Stradbroke, I'm not sure? 'I have always seen him as a Guineas type horse and Saturday is going to tell me exactly what I do with him going forward. 'He's out to a mile for the first time, but you would be brave to say he wouldn't run it, the way he's been racing.'
