Toowoomba trainer Tony Gollan is planning to expand his training base with a move to Brisbane early next year.
Gollan, 32, currently rents 38 boxes at the Bahram Stud training facility at Westbrook outside Toowoomba and has applied for 30 boxes on-course at Eagle Farm.
Gollan has been keen for a number of years to move to a capital city to train and hasn’t ruled out a further expansion at some point in the future.
“I’ve always wanted to train in either Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne but you’ve got to do things in stages,” Gollan said.
“I’m very keen to relocate to Brisbane but eventually I’d love to train in Melbourne.
“Any young trainer in Queensland aspires to do what Peter Moody has done.
“It wasn’t that long ago Peter Moody was training at Eagle Farm and since he moved to Melbourne he’s become the leading Group One trainer in the country.
“I’d love to emulate Moody’s feat. It would be mind-boggling.”
Brisbane Racing Club chairman Kevin Dixon said Eagle Farm currently had 240 on-course stables and work would commence shortly for an additional 70.
“We’re doing a number of projects at the moment and the additional stables are just one of them,” Dixon said.
Gollan is keen to take almost half of the new stables while the remainder are expected to be shared between premier trainer Rob Heathcote, Kelso Wood and Brian Wakefield.
Gollan scored the biggest win of his career since he started training as a 20-year-old when Temple Of Boom won the Group Three Aurie’s Star Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday.
His father Darryl also trains at Bahram Stud and will be in charge of his son’s Toowoomba operation when the Eagle Farm base is opened.
“At the moment Dad does a lot of pre-training for me as well as looking after his own horses,” Gollan said.
“We spend a lot of time travelling and we don’t have a grass training track in Toowoomba.
“I’m a grass trainer and I want to be competitive so I’m planning to work hard for the next two or three years to see where it takes me.”
Temple Of Boom will soon be joined in Melbourne by stablemates Spirit Of Boom and Listen Son who are close to returning for the spring carnival.
AAP TURF
