Gollan hoping Typhoon Taavi can deliver the goods for new connections
Tony Gollan holds a packed five-card hand for one of the last deals at the prospective broodmare table – the Gai Waterhouse Classic (Listed, 1200m) – and admits he’s finding it hard to pick one who’ll emerge with some precious late season black-type.
As of last night Gollan had five of the 16-horse field for Saturday’s feature at Ipswich, in the 19th and perhaps strongest edition of the race, which is in keeping with the depth of the Brisbane winter carnival overall.
While Annabel Neasham’s Midnight In Tokyo (Kobayashi) headed the market at around the $5.50 mark, Gollan will saddle Bezique (Spirit Of Boom) at $6.50, Yulong pair Typhoon Taavi (I Am Invincible) at $7 and Wollombi (Extreme Choice) at $9, plus Black On Beauty (Zoustar) at around $10 and Blue Spinel (Hellbent) at $21.
It’s a stacked deck for Brisbane’s premier trainer as another selection of mares seeks to value-add before possibly heading to the breeding barn. And one of his best chances is a five-year-old who’s already had a try at breeding and failed – but appears to have come back better than ever.
Bred by Queensland’s Formosa Bloodstock and entered – but withdrawn – from Element Hill’s 2020 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale draft, Typhoon Taavi started out with the training titan after whom Saturday’s Ipswich feature is named. Waterhouse and her co-trainer Adrian Bott prepared her for two country wins from her first 11 starts before her transfer to Brisbane.
Under Gollan she started with a bang, recording a 5.26 length Doomben Benchmark 65 (1200m) victory, but after four more middling runs, she went to stud last spring upon turning five.
She was sent to Widden’s Zoustar (Northern Meteor) last October but missed. After eight months out, she resumed with Gollan with a sixth at Doomben in March, but since then has been in good form, unfurling a winning hat-trick, twice at that track and once at Eagle Farm.
Her latest triumph, in a fillies and mares’ Benchmark 78 over 1200 metres, came with exquisite timing. Three weeks later, Typhoon Taavi went through the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale, as part of Element Hill’s unreserved dispersal. Knocked down for $425,000 to Zhao Zhijun, she now returns to racing and will sport Yulong’s green and white colours, following a top-up second in a Deagon barrier trial.
“I was super happy with her leading up to the time she got sold by Element Hill, and we’re really fortunate to have got her back,” Gollan told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“She did go to stud and had a year between racing. I’d have loved to have had her last summer, because I always felt the longer we had her, the better we’d go with her. It took her a while to get used to a different system and a different way of doing things at our stable.
“She came back, and I wasn’t sure how she’d go after that. But she’s come back in great shape for me. That’s in lesser, benchmark races, and she goes up in grade here, but she’s got a beautiful pattern she showed at the trials the other day that she’s right up to the mark.
“She’s a lovely on speed sort of horse. This is a big step up, but she’s a nice mare. She was able to dodge a bit of the carnival because of going to the sale, so she’s in good shape for Saturday. She loves good ground, so she’s well placed.”
While Typhoon Taavi, in with 54.5 kilograms under the quality handicap conditions, should be up near the pace from gate seven for Angela Jones, Bezique and Ryan Maloney, on 58 kilograms, will likely go back from barrier 15, which Gollan views as not necessarily a bad thing.
Bred by Strawberry Hill, out of dual stakes-winning speedster Karuta Queen (Not A Single Doubt), Bezique was a substantial $475,000 purchase at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2021 by Black Soil Bloodstock, John Foote and Gollan.
The four-year-old has come close to becoming Karuta Queen’s second stakes winner – after Brisbane Listed winner Eawase (Sebring). She has three stakes seconds, including in her past two starts in Doomben’s Bright Shadow Stakes (Listed, 1110m) and Eagle Farm’s Helen Coughlan Stakes (Listed, 1200m).
“She’s a pretty straightforward mare, and she’s been good in each run this prep,” said Gollan, drawing comparisons between Bezique and her dam Karuta Queen, whose biggest track moment may have come in being beaten four lengths – when second to stablemate Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) in the 2013 edition of the William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
“She’s a little bit like her mum in that she’s little like she was. But she’s really well put together.
“On form she’d be close to the pick of my five, but she has a wide gate to contend with, and she is weighted up to the mark.
“If she overcomes the barrier she can run really well. There looks to be a lot of tempo in the race, and so she’s one who’ll benefit if they overdo it.”
The same could be said for Wollombi, who has gate 13 for Vlad Duric. The Kingstar Farm-bred four-year-old is debuting first-up for Gollan and Yulong after a transfer from Peter and Paul Snowden. That follows her purchase by Panthalassa Syndicate for $500,000 at last month’s Gold Coast broodmare sale.
“I’ve only had her a couple of weeks but I got some info on her from the Snowdens, who were very helpful,” Gollan said. “I’ve only had her for one trial, but she comes to hand normally quite quickly.”
Wollombi had four wins and six placings in 18 runs for Team Snowden, capped by her victory in Flemington’s The Vanity (Gr 3, 1400m) in February, 2023.
In an even, high quality Gai Waterhouse, Gollan could also “make a case for” five-year-old Black On Beauty, who has barrier three for Damien Thornton and scored her fifth win from 14 outings last start in an Ipswich Benchmark 72 over 1100 metres on June 7.
“It’s a really strong race,” said Gollan, nominating Midnight In Tokyo as his toughest rival.
“Normally, there’d only be two or three hopes in the race, but this is a really strong edition.
“I think that reflects the buoyant broodmare market, and that horses like Wollombi have been through a sale and this is probably their last crack at a stakes race, to get black type before possibly going to stud.
“The Brisbane carnival in its entirety at this level has been exceptionally strong, particularly with the fillies and mares, and you’ll see that next week with the Tatts Tiara. That’ll be a good race as well.”