By Michael Cox
Perhaps the only positive for Tony Gollan out of Outback Barbie's (Spirit Of Boom) luckless last start effort is that she heads into the Magic Millions Guineas with a full tank of gas.
Outback Barbie will start favourite after a wide gate and trouble in running meant she never got a chance to fully let down in the G3 Vo Rogue Plate.
"She was unlucky, but looking forward to Saturday, it means she has come through it like a barrier trial really," trainer Tony Gollan said in between bidding on lots on the Gold Coast on race eve. "She has trained on great over the last fortnight, and hopefully we can get a turnaround in luck."
"She has trained on great over the last fortnight, and hopefully we can get a turnaround in luck." - Trainer Tony Gollan on Outback Barbie
That luck certainly returned with an inside gate but Gollan said that won't change his thinking tactically with a filly that races best from back in the field.
Trainer Tony Gollan
"We would like to be a little bit closer in the run and she certainly won't be back where she was last time, although that wasn't the plan anyway. I expect her to be a bit closer, but travelling comfortably. If she gets a clear run she will get every chance," he said.
"If she gets a clear run she will get every chance." - Tony Gollan
Stablemate Light Up The Room (So You Think {NZ}) finished third in the Vo Rogue despite also suffering interference but Gollan expects another bold showing.
"She is a nice filly, she should get a nice run, about third pair back and she will be very strong at the 1400m. I think she is a real good chance to be honest. She is a nice filly and she isn't out of the race."
"This is the grand final for both of them, they are scheduled to be there for their grand final runs. They are both peaking for their preparation, they will go out after this and then come back for the winter carnival."
Light Up The Room
Gollan has been active at the Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale and his focus has been on fillies, with seven of his nine lots purchased being of the fairer sex.
The competitive top end means that focus on fillies is by necessity, not that Gollan has a problem training them.
"The big buyers have been hard to beat so we have just focused more on the fillies because they have been more attainable.' - Tony Gollan
"The big buyers have been hard to beat so we have just focused more on the fillies because they have been more attainable," Gollan said, who works with astute agent John Foote.
"We don't have the big syndicates behind us and those big colts are hard to buy, but I have no problem training a filly over a colt. If there is a colt I like and he happens to have a page, then chances are I won't get a chance to buy him. The last two champion racehorses we have had in Australia have been fillies and mares, so it doesn't really matter for filly to mare."
The highlights from Gollan's group have been an I Am Invincible (Lot 82) for $600,000 and a Sebring (Lot 571) from the same family as G1 Golden Slipper winner Crystal Lily (Stratum) for $450,000 .
"They are both similar fillies, they have great actions and both are well related, so that gives them that residual value, but the main thing is that they have been bought to do a job on the track," he said.
"I can see both of them being Magic Millions horses, if not this year then as 3-year-olds." - Tony Gollan
"I can see both of them being Magic Millions horses, if not this year then as 3-year-olds. It's not just the two-year-old race you buy them for, the Magic Millions is a race day you can target over their whole career."
"These two profile well. If they are sharp enough as 2-year-olds, we will try that, if not, we will be back here at three, they are both Magic Millions-type fillies. We will buy colts, but at this sale the fillies have just fitted my price bracket better."
Gollan has obviously kept a close eye on his former charge and Outback Barbie's sire Spirit Of Boom after the former gun sprinter produced a breakout first crop.
Spirit Of Boom has had 12 lots sell at an average of $163,000 but given the quality of mares the Queensland-based sire is working from thus far, Gollan said the best was yet to come.
"I think he's going great, he is still selling well and he has runners on Saturday here. He is a fantastic stallion doing an amazing job and the yearlings from the matches he is getting this season are going to be the ones you want."
"He is still coming off some low base pedigrees and he is doing an amazing job. You just have to pick and choose for now, they can't all be great, but he has done a fantastic job so far with the mares he has got and he is a legitimate stallion."
