It’s taken him two decades and five attempts but home town hero Michael Nolan achieved a lifelong goal by winning the Weetwood Handicap at Toowoomba on Thursday.
The name Nolan is synonymous with Toowoomba through the family’s long history in breeding and racing but no member of the family had won the prestigious $150,000 feature until gutsy mare Miss Imagica romped to victory.
Confidently ridden by Japanese expatriate Nori Yamada, Miss Imagica overcome a torrid run three wide on the speed to race away and provide Nolan with his childhood dream.
“I’ve been training for 21 years and I’ve always wanted to win this race,” Nolan said.
“This is as good as it gets for me. I’ve trained a Group One winner with Laurie’s Lottery in the Doomben 10,000 but this is different, this means the world to me to win this race.”
Boldly ridden by Yamada, Miss Imagica ($8) extended her record on the Toowoomba track to seven wins and a third from nine starts when she downed the Tony Gollan-trained Cariad ($11) by 2-1/4 lengths.
The Norm Hilton-trained Reilly Blue ($11) ran on well late to finish a long neck back third to complete a home town hat-trick with the well tried favourite The Ringmaster ($2.10) tiring in the straight to finish unplaced.
Meanwhile, tears flowed freely in the enclosure after the Toowoomba Cup when former local trainer John Wallace scored his fifth win in the $100,000 feature with a horse ridden by his teenage son Brad.
Wallace, now based on the Gold Coast, cried openly as he watched his son return to scale on Musashi Of Mieko after the pair combined for a big win in the 2100m feature.
“I am so proud of this boy. He works so hard to keep his weight down and to win this race with him is probably my greatest thrill in racing,” he said.
Musashi Of Mieko ($41) finished powerfully in the straight from well back to beat Emoticon ($5) by a 1-1/2 lengths with Contract Caterer ($3.80) 1-1/4 lengths back third.
Earlier, gun jockey Glen Colless gave the locals a lesson in patience when he guided Brisbane filly Snipzu to a big win in the $150,000 JJ Atkins Plate (1200m).
Snipzu had raced right on the speed when finishing runner-up at her past two starts but Colless let the two-year-old daughter of Snippetson drift back to worse than midfield behind a blistering speed and she exploded in the straight for an easy win.
Trained by Liam Birchley at Eagle Farm, Snipzu ($2.90) took her career earnings to $450,000 when she defeated Pure Shoes ($9) by 4-1/2 lengths with the well-tried favourite Bullet One ($1.90) 1-3/4 lengths away third.
