Tony Gollan closes in on his Queensland metropolitan training record

TONY Gollan insists his stable will have even more depth next season after the state’s top trainer moved to within half-a-win of his own Queensland training record at Ipswich on Saturday.

Tony Gollan hopes to finish the season with a flurry of winners. Picture: Grant Peters

TONY Gollan insists his stable will have even more depth next season after the state’s premier trainer moved to within half-a-win of his own Queensland metropolitan record at Ipswich yesterday.

Gollan declared troublesome five-year-old Amexed the best stayer he has trained after he held on to defeat All Clear by a half-head in the $100,000 Provincial Stayers Series Final (2150m).

The victory moved Gollan to 78½ Queensland metro winners for the season, just half-a-win shy of the benchmark he set last season.

Gollan also moved to 93½ winners overall for the season as he closes in on training 100 winners in a season for the first time.

“Every time you can train more winners than the year before that is a plus,” he said. “But it’s been a frustrating winter carnival for us, no doubt, and this is only our second real winner for the carnival.

“I’m very confident we will finish the season off well … and we will be stronger next season than we were this year, no doubt.”

Saturday’s victory was Amexed first win since he saluted in the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate on May 10, 2014.

“He has had bad feet, he used to hit himself bad and it just took ages to get everything right,” Gollan said. “He is the best stayer I’ve trained … and we might look at the Townsville or Grafton Cup with him.”

The victory was made even sweeter for Gollan after River Junction gave the trainer their share in the horse recently.

“It’s timely because we are going on holidays to Bali in two weeks,” Gollan said.

Londehero ends drought in Dash

Nathan Exelby

MATT Dunn was able to add to his seasonal tally with his No. 1 seed at home in his box when Londehero broke an 826-day drought to land the Ipswich Dash (1100m) on Saturday.

Dunn also accepted with the talented Code Noir, but scratched him off what looked a tricky gate.

Londehero returned to the winner’s circle at Ipswich. Picture: Peter Wallis

“He’s had more than a year between runs and only the one trial,” Dunn said of Londehero. “I decided to give him another trial before we take him back to the races, especially after he drew wide.”

Londehero was at one stage one of the most promising three-year-olds in Queensland, but had developed a non-winning reputation after going 15 runs without saluting before Saturday.

“He’s a frustrating horse to train because you know the ability is there, but he just needs so many things to go right,” Dunn said. “He can reel off a brilliant sectional, but his sprint only last for about 200m, so you have to get the timing right.

“The way this track is playing today is just perfect for him.”

Originally published as Tony Gollan closes in on his Queensland metropolitan training record