Gollan set for a ton of fun with stable
with 70 winners but is locked in a battle with Toowoomba’s Ben Currie for the state title.
He has been in constant contact with staff at his Eagle Farm stable and is looking forward to Lord Coconuts ($6), Sheiswhatsheis ($3.80) and Pindan Pearl ($5.50) in the Brett Whalley and Co Open Handicap (1640m).
Gollan laid careful plans for Lord Coconuts, who did his early racing in Sydney under trainer Bjorn Baker, after the gelding scored a fighting win at Ipswich in a metropolitan benchmark race three weeks ago.
“This is the third campaign I have had him for and I have learned you have to space his runs,” Gollan said.
“I thought he might have needed the run when he won at Ipswich.
“It was a good win as he came along the fence when most thought you had to get away from it.
“I think he will be up to a race like the (Listed) Tatts Mile at Doomben this month.”
Another former Sydney horse when trained by Tim Martin, Pindan Pearl is now owned by Queensland’s Glenlogan Park Stud and Gollan is keen to get a city win with the mare.
Sheiswhatsheis has had a freshen-up since her last start in May and won a Doomben trial on June 27.
Yet another former Sydney horse sent to Queensland, El Sasso ($12) ran second to Sheiswhatsheis in the trial and will resume in the Spicers Balfour Hotel Handicap (1200m).
El Sasso won six races for the Peter and Paul Snowden partnership and will be having his second run for Gollan today.
The gelding was well beaten in a race at Eagle Farm in February and Gollan immediately sent him for a spell.
“He has had two trials and run second behind some handy horses in both,” he said. CO-TRAINER Simon Zahra is hopeful the addition of a tongue-tie to Rough Justice will spark the necessary improvement he needs to challenge the favourites in the All Victorian Sprint Series Final (1200m) today.
Rough Justice ($10) has not won for more than a year but is a model of consistency and goes into the $150,000 sprint at Flemington after two placings at the same track.
The stable will put a tongue-tie on the gelding for the race because Zahra believed the sprinter might have been sucking his tongue back, hindering his air supply.
Ability ($3) and Husson Eagle ($7), the two horses who beat him last start, are on the top two lines of betting.