’I don’t care, as long as they win!’: Tony Gollan-trained, Ciaron Maher-owned filly surges into Magic Millions 2YO Classic with Sunshine Coast win

Ciaron Maher has the $3m Gold Coast Magic Millions 2yo Classic favourite Icarian Dream but is also in the quirky spot of cheering for another contender after a Tony Gollan-trained filly he part owns surged into next Saturday’s rich race.

Champion trainer Tony Gollan trains La Bella Boom which is part-owned by his great mate, champion Victorian trainer Ciaron Maher. Picture: Grant Peters / Trackside Photography

Trainer Ciaron Maher has the $3m Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO Classic favourite Icarian Dream but is also in the quirky spot of cheering for another contender after a filly he part owns surged into next Saturday’s rich race.

Tony Gollan’s filly La Bella Boom races in the Black Soil Bloodstock colours of well-known Queensland syndicator Brian Siemsen but Maher is also in the ownership.

Maher was on track on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday to watch the filly make a Magic Millions statement by putting her rivals to the sword in the Gold Pearl (1100m).

The champion Victorian trainer was involved in La Bella Boom as a weanling and stayed in the ownership after Gollan purchased the filly for $300,000 at last year’s Magic Millions sale.

Asked what it was like cheering on another trainer, Maher told Racenet: “I don’t care, as long as they win!”

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Champion trainers Gollan and Maher are great mates and their horses regularly stay at each other’s stables when they travel interstate for big race missions.

Bookmakers liked what they saw with La Bella Boom’s win – chasing down rivals including tearaway leader Rainbow Glow – and they slashed the filly’s price from $26 to $11 in Magic Millions betting.

Gollan won his first Magic Millions 2YO Classic with Skirt The Law in 2023 and he now believes he has a golden chance to win his second.

What a win!
LA BELLA BOOM storms home for a dominant win in the 2YO Gold Pearl, right on song for next week's 2YO @mmsnippets!@CWilliamsJockey | @tonygollanpic.twitter.com/bmEnh0z3Ua

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) January 4, 2025

• Magic Millions at Gold Coast next week hinges on ‘drop-in pitch’

“Ciaron tried to give me a lot of advice with this filly and then told me he had done a good job,” Gollan quipped.

“This filly is a real two-year-old, she has been from day one.

“At home, she does just what she has to do and doesn’t do anything extra.

“There have been a good crop of horses who have raced this Saturday and then won the Magic Millions seven days later.

“It was the perfect gallop she needed for next week.

“She is a little tank.

“Off today’s run, she is right up there with what Skirt The Law did before the Magic Millions.”

Tony Gollan-trained filly La Bella Boom surges into Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO Classic contention with a strong win on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Grant Peters / Trackside Photography

Meanwhile, legendary trainer Peter Snowden declared next Saturday’s 2YO Classic was an incredibly wide open affair after he qualified colt Quietly Arrogant.

Quietly Arrogant was $51 into $15 for the 2YO Classic after scoring the Gold Nugget in which Matt Dunn’s $1.55 favourite Torque To Be Sure finished runner-up after over-racing and doing everything wrong.

Torque To Be Sure drifted from $11 to $18 in the 2YO Classic but the colt at least looks to have assured himself a spot in next week’s big race after securing second-placed prize money on Saturday.

QUIETLY ARROGANT was exactly that in the first race at @SCTurfClub under a cool ride from @ShinnBlake for @SnowdenRacing1 🔥
Earning a spot in next week's @mmsnippets 2YO. pic.twitter.com/Wo2qWHTPy3

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) January 4, 2025

“The Magic Millions 2YO looks very open next Saturday,” Snowden said after Quietly Arrogant’s victory.

“There hasn’t been a dominant horse yet.

“There’s been some nice horses win, but nothing has won two or three in a row and really stood up.

“My horse is an honest horse.

“In really top company he would probably be midfield, but he’s a fit horse now and with luck in running, why not have a crack next Saturday?”