MY CALL - GOLLAN SET FOR A RECORD BREAKING SEASON
By David Fowler | Tuesday, December 1, 2015
David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.
Tony Gollan will break his own metropolitan winner’s record this season.
Gollan gained recognition when he beat the late Bruce McLachlan's record of 78 metropolitan winners set in the 1987/88 season.
Mind you, Gollan has a long way to go to beat McLachlan's record of 16 metro training premierships.
Gollan had trained 37 metro winners after a third of the season was completed last Saturday.
You might say my prediction is a no brainer if you extrapolate the figure out for the 12 months but it doesn't work that way.
The summer period will be crucial to this final result because the opportunity of winning races becomes more difficult in those last four months when the Winter Carnival is conducted.
The key to Gollan’s dominance is the great spread of horsepower across the classes.
He takes the two features at Doomben on the weekend then rolls the sleeves up to present seven low class runners at the Ipswich metro card tomorrow.
That prominence at all levels will secure more than 79 winners for him this season.
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Despite all this local dominance and hooplah, there is unfinished business for Gollan.
He has a fierce will to win and wants to take his Queensland achievements to the national stage.
That transition hasn't been properly achieved despite a success or two south of the border.
That's not a criticism. He knows it as well as I do.
He will openly admit he is still fine tuning his strategy for raids in the south.
It will happen.
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The Gollan story is one of the few positive ones coming out of the state.
To be frank, my colleagues and myself have presented the current climate in some detail in the last week.
In fact it's a rarity to see the Queensland media singing from the same song sheet.
Little more can be said except the expectations of an announcement from the Racing Minister heighten every day.
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Former AJC Chairman Bob Charley made a surprise statement at The Bernborough Club last Friday.
Charley, as guest speaker, declared the amalgamation of the AJC and STC as one of the worst decisions in New South Wales racing.
"People from western Sydney were told they were to become members of an eastern suburbs club," Charley said.
"I've seen no benefit out if it in any respect," he added.
Interesting.
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Loved this tweet from racing enthusiast Dave Dawson in response to the usual garbage about Doomben being a "leaders track"
"Well we'll have to set up a Committee to decide when the wrong horse wins and organise re-runs at Eagle Farm," dubbledee tweeted.
I'm convinced those that bleat about Doomben bias are either casual observers at best or ignorant at worst.
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Sad to hear of the recent passing of North Queensland racing identity Terry Sharpe.
Sharpe was a former Cairns Jockey Club president and passed after a long illness last Friday.
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