Latest news with #VictoryStakes
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.'
News.com.au
02-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Apprentice Bailey Wheeler lands ride on 2024 Golden Slipper runner-up Coleman for Group 2 Victory Stakes
Talented apprentice Bailey Wheeler has declared that winning the Group 2 Victory Stakes at Eagle Farm on Saturday would undoubtedly be the 'highlight of my career'. The 20-year-old has been handed a golden opportunity to put his name in lights on the first day of the Queensland winter carnival, earning the plum ride in the $300,000 race over 1200m on the Chris Waller -trained 2024 Golden Slipper runner-up Coleman. On Friday morning, Coleman was the equal $5.50 favourite for the race alongside Tony Gollan's stable star Hidden Wealth in a wide-open contest. The Kosciuszko champion Far Too Easy, with champion jockey Craig Williams aboard, was $6.50 while the Gollan-trained Freedom Rally had firmed from $26 to $16. Asked what it would mean to win the Victory Stakes on Saturday in a quality field, Wheeler said: 'I think it would stand me in very good stead for the rest of the carnival and to ride my first Group winner for Mr Waller would be the highlight of my career for sure. 'Let's hope I steer him in the right direction because he'll be very hard to beat.' When Wheeler received the text message from his manager revealing he would be riding Coleman, the first person he rang was his proud dad. 'I was very excited,' said Wheeler, who won the $200,000 Wagga Town Plate (1200m) on the Mack Griffith-trained gelding Compelling Truth on Thursday. 'As soon as I got the text message I actually rang my Dad and said 'how good's this?' 'It's a great opportunity to ride in a Group 2 race for Mr Waller and this horse, he's very smart. 'I've ridden in a Group 2 in Sydney but this is definitely the best Group opportunity I've had since I've been an apprentice. 'It gives me confidence that he (Waller) has confidence in me. It's very exciting and the horse's trials have been superb leading into Saturday.' Coleman finished narrowly behind the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained filly Lady Of Camelot in a thrilling $5m Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill in March last year when the colt was trained by Matt Laurie. His best results since that tremendous effort have been third in the Group 1 Sires Produce (1400m) at Randwick last April and second in the Group 2 Roman Consul (1200m) at Rosehill in October. • Busuttin's surprise $41 top seed in three-pronged Derby assault Coleman missed this year's autumn carnival in Sydney after having surgery to remove a fragment from his fetlock. The Victory Stakes will be his first race under Australia's top trainer Waller following disgruntled owner Sharon Cummings' failed Supreme Court attempt to stop the colt from running in the Blue Sapphire Stakes at Caulfield in November when he finished sixth out of seven horses as the $3 favourite while under the tutelage of Laurie. Wheeler said he relished the pressure of features and would treat the Victory Stakes like any other race on multiple Group 1-placed colt Coleman, which has won $1.3m in prizemoney. 'There's a little bit of pressure but I enjoy that, it gives me something to look forward to,' he said. 'I treat it the same, it's just another race basically. It's definitely going to be a big experience. 'I enjoy the pressure, especially around such a live chance. Riding for Mr Waller in a big race, it gives me such great hope. I'm excited.'
News.com.au
30-04-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Brisbane trainer Rob Heathcote confident ironhorse Rothfire will be competitive in Victory Stakes at Eagle Farm
It could be Queensland racing's comeback of the year if old warrior Rothfire wins Saturday's $300,000 Group 2 Victory Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm but trainer Rob Heathcote will never write off this champion. The seven-year-old gelding will make his first race appearance of 2025 when he competes against a stacked field in the Victory Stakes on the opening day of the Queensland winter carnival. He will go up against the likes of Tony Gollan-trained stars Hidden Wealth and Freedom Rally, Group 1-winning mare Lady Laguna and The Kosciuszko champion Far Too Easy, who will be ridden by top jockey Craig Williams. TAB has posted Hidden Wealth as the early $5 favourite ahead of the Chris Waller-trained Coleman and David McColm's Far Too Easy (both $5.50), with Rothfire paying $18 on Wednesday afternoon. 'It's a quality field but that's to be expected for a $300,000 race,' Heathcote said. 'I've said it a thousand times with my old boy Rothfire, there's no doubting his ability. 'I need a track that's not too firm and he'll be competitive. It's just his nature, he doesn't know how to be non-competitive.' This is likely to be the final winter carnival for Rothfire, the winner of 10 of 32 races, including the 2020 Group 1 JJ Atkins (1400m), given his well-documented battle with career-threatening injuries. It was nearly all over for Rothfire in September 2020 when he suffered a severe sesamoid injury but the ironhorse made a miraculous comeback to racing just 12 months later. Heathcote also has high hopes in the Victory Stakes for his four-year-old mare Abounding, who finished seventh in her last start, the $2m Magic Millions Cup (1400m) on the Gold Coast on January 17, although she has drawn awkwardly in barrier 13 for Saturday. 'She's going super. The 1200m is probably going to be a shade on the sharp side for her but last preparation she ran a cracker first-up,' Heathcote said. 'She won a Listed fillies and mares race first-up over 1200m, the Tatts Classic (in late November), and she was really strong late. 'I'm expecting a good run from her on Saturday. She didn't have a lot of luck in her subsequent two runs – the Nudgee Listed (on December 28) and the Magic Millions Cup down on the Gold Coast – but she's quality plus and she'll run a big race.' Heathcote nominated five-year-old gelding Hidden Wealth, the winner of more than $1.4m in prizemoney, as 'clearly the one to beat' in the Victory Stakes, which Gollan won last year with his stable star Antino. 'You don't just have to beat Tony Gollan, you've got Annabel Neasham, Chris Waller and James Cummings,' Heathcote said of the top trainers looking for an early scalp in the winter carnival. 'You need to have your horses in the best order to be competitive against this lot.' Cosmo Centaurus will run in Sunday's $1m The Archer (1300m) slot race.
