TONY GOLLAN CONFIRMS THAT HIS STABLE STAR ANTINO HAS NOT BEEN RETIRED

By Graham Potter | Thursday, January 23, 2025

There it was in black and white on the Racing Australia website.

Antino – Status: Retired

Well, that was news to trainer Tony Gollan who, happily informed followers of the horse, who Gollan has labelled ‘possibly the best he has trained,’ that Antino’s status was very much that of an active racehorse with the son of Redwood currently in pre-training in preparation for his participation in the Queensland Winter Carnival.

After Gollan and clarified Antino’s position, Antino’s status was changed on the Racing Australia website to ‘Pending.’

There will be quite a sense of anticipation when Antino does return to action.

The six-year-old, whose last start was a luckless run in international company in Hong Kong, is an eleven-time winner from twenty-three starts with $2.2 million banked in prize-money.

His sole Group 1 win to date came in the 2024 Toorak Handicap (he had finished second in the Toorak the year before), but it is also Antino’s run of placed finishes this season … two third placings behind the likes of Mr Brightside (in the Group 1 Makybe Diva) and Pride Of Jenni (in the Group 2 Feehan) and a second place behind Mr Brightside (when only beaten less than half-a-length by Mr Brightside in the Group 1 Cantala Stakes) … which frank Antino’s way above average ability.

The Stradbroke, a much sought-after scalp for Gollan, is expected to be very much in the cross-hairs when Gollan lines up a Grand Final assignment for Antino over the winter.

Far from being sent out to pasture, some testing assignments await.

*For the record, Raciing Australia still has Antino's status as 'Pending.'

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