‘There’s my Stradbroke horse’: Trainer Tony Gollan’s faith in Transatlantic rewarded with The Buffering win at Eagle Farm

Forget the Magic Millions – Tony Gollan has instead found himself a Stradbroke Handicap horse for the winter in the progressive Transatlantic, who dominated his rivals to win The Buffering at Eagle Farm.

Transatlantic dominates his rivals in The Buffering for trainer Tony Gollan and jockey Ryan Maloney. Picture: Grant Peters / Trackside Photography

Forget the Magic Millions – Tony Gollan has instead found himself a Stradbroke Handicap horse for the winter.

The champion trainer has been telling anyone who will listen that Transatlantic could be the next big thing in Queensland and he had his sky high opinion justified on Saturday when he toyed with his rivals in The Buffering at Eagle Farm.

As an Inglis purchase, Transatlantic isn’t eligible for Magic Millions riches in a fortnight’s time, however it didn’t stop Gollan aiming up at the $300,000 on offer on Saturday – and he has his sights on even bigger targets come the winter.

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Transatlantic came out of Benchmark 85 grade last week, however put the writing on the wall early in the piece when Ryan Maloney parked him just off the tempo, set by Rothfire.

The time-honoured Stradbroke Handicap has been the itch Gollan has been unable to scratch for so long, and he said he would now gear everything around getting Transatlantic into the race after he missed out on a golden ticket for it two stars back when he was beaten in The Gateway as a short-priced favourite.

“There’s my Stradbroke horse,” a smiling Gollan declared.

“I am very proud of him, we had a bit of an ownership change and he has been gelded throughout the year, they have reaped the rewards today — he is winter carnival-bound for sure.

“The rating isn’t a problem now, it has probably stuffed it up a bit but it will get us into some good races in the winter and that is where he deserves to be, he is a Stradbroke horse and that is my sole purpose now.”

Transatlantic on the quick back up wins again for @tonygollan! pic.twitter.com/KREvwpHDNZ

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 28, 2024

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Gollan hasn’t been afraid to tip Transatlantic as horse to watch and his followers got the chocolates after he was backed into $3.60 on Saturday.

“He is a really good horse, as a young colt he would have been better off having the cut he has had now and being a gelding,” he said.

“He is out of an Oaks winner in Gust Of Wind, by Snitzel, so he was never going to be an early two-year-old, he has furnished into a lovely looking animal.

“I did the same thing with Freedom Rally last year, backed him up in seven days into the same race and he was an unlucky second.

“I felt this horse was going as good, if not better than the other horse.”

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Freedom Rally narrowly missed out on a run in the Stradbroke this year, despite being one of the fancies in betting, however Transatlantic could enjoy a smoother passage into the race after beating the likes of Group 1 winner Rothfire at level weights on Saturday.

Originally published as ‘There’s my Stradbroke horse’: Trainer Tony Gollan’s faith in Transatlantic rewarded with The Buffering win at Eagle Farm