GOLLAN HAS TWO GENUINE CONTENDERS IN THE ARCHER

By Graham Potter | Friday, May 1, 2026

A day after the Stradbroke Season officially kicks off at Eagle Farm with the $350 000 Group 2 Queensland Guineas on Saturday, the provincial venue at Rockhampton will host The Archer, a $1 million slot race, which has attracted a notable field of runners for their Sunday extravaganza.

Tony Gollan, Queensland’s leading trainer, has placed two horses into the mix and he goes in search of his first victory in The Archer, assigning Rockribbed and Boomtown Boss to the stable’s north Queensland mission.

Rockribbed, an eight-year-old, is an eleven-time winner from thirty-four starts.

“His fresh run can be not his best,” said Gollan of Rockribbed. “I wanted to get that out of the way over 1000m which was too short for him.” (Rockribbed was well beaten out of the places first-up in the Listed Ascot Handicap in his first-up run).

‘He’ll jump and he’ll roll forward in The Archer. He’ll race well. He is a good old horse coming off a good summer.”
Rickribbed, who has been handed a wide barrier draw (number ten) will be ridden by Ryan Maloney.

Boomtown Boss, who is four years younger than Rockribbed, is a five-time winner from sixteen starts.
“Boomtown Boss is first-up. That suits him. He a good fresh horse,” said Gollan.

“He’s trials have been good.” (Boomtown Boss was given, and won, two trails in April after last racing in January in the $2 million Magic Millions Cup in which he finished second by the narrowest of narrow margins).

“He’s coming off a busy summer, so he has come to hand well.”

Angela Jones, who rode Boomtown Boss in his last start and his two recent trails, will be in the saddle on race-day.

Either one of the Gollan trained runners could prove to be good value at double figure odds with Boomtown Boss the more favourited on the two at $10 … and Rockribbed is certainly not out of it, even if he is not being shown due respect on the betting boards at $26.

When the son of Night Of Thunder strikes form he makes it count having put back-to-back wins together three times in his career, most notably over the last Queensland Summer Carnival when he took out the Tatts Recognition and the Lough Neagh Stakes – both Listed races.

In the Recognition, Rockribbed just touched off Boomtown Boss by the narrowest of margins over the 1350m trip when carrying 3.5kg more than his stable companion (57kg to 53.5kg).

Rockribbed and Boomtown Boss will meet again for the first time since their clash in the Recognition. This time Rockribbed will only carry 0.5kg more than Boomtown Boss (57kg to 56.5kg).

In the Lough Neah, Rockribbed beat Rothfire (who finished second) and Anemacore (third) by 0.70 lengths and 1.03 lengths respectively … that is the same weight terms on which they will clash again on Saturday … a set of results which, if Rockribbed can run to that form, could put Gollan in the pound seats.

And Boomtown Boss also has genuine claims.

The son of Spirit Of Boom, who finished out of the first two places only once in five starts last preparation … four of which were in feature race company, has a good first-up record and brings a level of consistency to his performance which is likely to place him right in the thick of the action when it matters most here.

The Gollan stable never goes anywhere just to make up the numbers.

The warning is there.

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