By Bren O'Brien
Despite training a quartet of Doomben winners for the second time in three weeks, in-form Tony Gollan isn't considering expanding his business interstate, saying he is committed to building his presence in Queensland.
Gollan has made a stunning start to the Queensland Summer Racing Carnival, training four winners at Doomben on Saturday, including three of the feature races on the card.
His unbeaten 3-year-old Zoustyle (Zoustar) dominated the Winning Rupert Plate before Outback Barbie (Spirit of Boom) captured her second black-type success in the Listed Mode S. and I'm A Rippa (Love Conquers All) led home a stable quinella in the G3 George Moore S.
With plenty of summer riches on offer, Gollan's stable is in ominous form with many of his stars headed towards the Magic Millions Raceday on the Gold Coast in January.
"It was a great day out at the races for our stable," Gollan told RadioTAB. "I was concerned two weeks ago that I might have peaked too early, but we really have got an exciting summer ahead of us."
"The main thing is keeping these horses happy and sound. We’ve got some fit animals here and it’s a matter of keeping them going for the next six weeks."
Success not granted
Gollan currently dominates the Brisbane metropolitan trainers' premiership, with 34 winners for the season so far, 11 clear of Robert Heathcote in second place.
But a sixth-straight metro premiership isn't something that Gollan takes for granted, saying his only aim was to continue to improve what he and his staff do.
"There's always things we can do better here at Gollan Racing." - Tony Gollan
"I have done some things I wanted to do in our stable here to make it a little bit better and a bit stronger but I don’t concur that I'll dominate the premiership, I don’t think that at all," he said.
"I think it’s a very strong training group up here. I respect all the trainers I train against, particularly those guys who are in the top five. They are always putting pressure on me to be better and to get better horses and look after them as good as I can."
Zoustyle by Zoustar is currently unbeaten, four from four
Plans for better, not bigger
Gollan pointed to better owner communications as among the current priorities as well as exploring the option of setting up his own farm. Growing the Gollan Racing footprint to Sydney or Melbourne wasn't on the agenda.
"There are some plans in the next 12 months to possibly get a farm with some clients and do a few different things here," he said.
"At this point we are steadfast in Queensland. We enjoy it here and we've got some great owner support here." - Tony Gollan
"We want to get to the stage where we can have a really good base of horses that we can travel to all the carnivals like we have done successfully in the past."
"It’s been a bit lean on that of late. That's our next goal. We are not going anywhere or establishing other stables, but we hope to be active at all the carnivals."
Spirit of Boom filly Outback Barbie
Millions targets loom large
Gollan indicated that I'm A Rippa, who secured his third stakes win on Saturday, would be headed back to the Gold Coast in January for either the race he won last year, the QTIS Magic Millions race of the Magic Million Cup after winning in a sizzling 1:08.43.
He would likely step through the Listed Lough Neagh S. and the Buffering S. on his way there, while the trainer is weighing up whether runner-up Most Important (I Am Invincible) skips the Lough Neagh S. and goes straight to the Buffering S. on December 29.
Outback Barbie is also headed to the Gold Coast where she will target the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas. On her way there she may clash with Zoustyle in the Listed Gold Edition Plate.
Zoustyle, who isn’t Magic Millions eligible, will then likely head towards the third leg of the 3-year-old Summer Crowns Series, the G3 Vo Rogue Plate on December 29.
