Latest news with #TonyGollan
News.com.au
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Angela Jones receives praise from Rob Heathcote after bringing up 100 winners for season at Eagle Farm
As star young Queensland jockey Angela Jones cracked her 100th winner for the racing season, trainer Rob Heathcote had the words of another top trainer ringing in his ears. Jones, who hails from country Charters Towers and had her family watching trackside at Eagle Farm, produced a typically cool ride to score the first race on Amuseantes for Heathcote. It didn't take Jones long to raise the bat for her ton of national winners this season, after she started the day on 99.5 winners. After watching Jones produce an ice-cool ride to steer Amuseantes ($14) to victory in the QTIS 3YO Fillies Plate, Heathcote was full of superlatives. 'I heard Tony Gollan interviewed about Angela Jones maybe four or five months ago, when she had just given one of his horses a brilliant steer,' Heathcote said. 'Tony said something about Angela that has always stuck with me. 'He said that not only is she an enormous talent, she is a beautiful person. 'And that just comes through in her riding. 'She never panics, she never gets high anxiety and she is so patient and beautifully balanced. 'I mean look at that ride (on Amuseantes), she won that race for me.' Angela Jones lands an early blow on Tattersall’s Tiara Day, slicing through the field aboard AMUSEANTES for Rob Heathcote. Could this be the start of a massive day for the rising star? ðŸ�† #QLDisRacing — RaceQ (@RaceQLD) June 28, 2025 Jones was thrilled to score her 100th winner, but it was a surprise to her that it came in the first race. 'This filly was one of the few maidens in the race, so I didn't think she could win today,' Jones said. 'But she probably should have got her maiden out of the way by now and she did everything right today.' Meanwhile, James McDonald said he wished the Group 1 JJ Atkins was still to come after the dominant win of Chris Waller 's two-year-old colt Autumn Boy in the Listed Tatt's Stakes (1400m). The JJ Atkins has already been run and won – by Queensland colt Cool Archie – but McDonald is sure Autumn Boy would have been hard to beat if he had contested it. Autumn Boy, a young son of former Group 1 champion The Autumn Sun, started favourite in the Tatt's Stakes and didn't have the easiest run but was still too good. Autumn Boy 'leaves' them chasing in the Listed Tatt’s Stakes for the two-year-olds... and remains unbeaten! ðŸ�‚ @cwallerracing @mcacajamez @BrisRacingClub — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 28, 2025 McDonald is predicting the youngster can go onto big things in the spring after he made it two from two. 'He is a beautiful horse, he is lucky the JJ Atkins is not in another two weeks as he could have been winning that,' McDonald said. 'He is a very promising horse and he is only going to get better and better.'
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Star jockey Angela Jones goes from the Queensland outback to the Group 1 big smoke of the Tatt's Tiara
She was the little kid who grew up in outback Queensland, thinking the Melbourne Cup was Australia's only horse race. On Saturday at Eagle Farm, the jockey who was raised on a cattle and grain property about 100km from Clermont can ride her first Group 1 winner and also pass the magical mark of 100 wins for the season. The Angela Jones story is quite extraordinary. 'When I was a kid, I knew what the Melbourne Cup was but I didn't know that there was races all year,' Jones said. 'My parents had no real knowledge about racing and neither did I. 'We would watch the Melbourne Cup once a year, I would get excited a couple of weeks out thinking I could watch the horses on TV and I thought that was cool. 'We would have the TV channel on racing for half an hour once a year and that was about it. 'I was home schooled up until I was about 15 or 16 so I had pretty flexible school hours. 'I would get up pretty early and I can remember sometimes being finished with my schoolwork by 9am. 'Then the rest of the day I would be following Dad around with whatever he was doing.' Jones is one of an ever-increasing group of female riders taking Australia by storm. She has never had a better chance to soar into racing's Group 1 club than she will have riding Tony Gollan's winning machine mare Floozie at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Jones has won four straight on Floozie since the mare came north from Victoria and she is fighting out favouritism in the Group 1 Tatt's Tiara, the final Group 1 of the Australian racing season. If it wasn't for Jones' determination and drive to be a jockey when she was young, she would have ended up in another profession. Parents Jason and Julie had no racing background and they assumed it was a passing fad when their girl wanted to explore the possibility of being a jockey. 'When I got into it Dad was of the opinion that it wasn't a career, it was something I was just mucking around with,' Jones recalls. 'My parents did say they wanted me to go to university and I was like 'I will do a gap year', because I didn't really want to go to uni. 'Even when I got into racing, I guess Mum and Dad just thought I was going to uni at some point. 'To begin with, it was like 'when are you going to get a real job and go and get a career?' 'But I told Mum that being a jockey was what I really wanted to do. 'She knows how stubborn I am so she was supportive a bit earlier, she could see it was what I was going to do anyway. 'Dad probably didn't get into it initially, he probably didn't get on board until a few of his mates started talking to him about it.' Jones went to boarding school in Charters Towers and made friends with the family of local trainer Robert Kirkwood. Robert's wife Sally is a horse instructor and it helped further the racing passion of the young Jones. But she still had little idea of the path towards trying to become a professional jockey. There was a pivotal moment one day when she went to watch the races at Charters Towers. 'I went to the local races and I ran into (former jockey and apprentice mentor) Shane Scriven,' Jones said. 'I said to him, 'can I be an apprentice?' 'I just had the idea that whatever I did, I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to do the best I could. 'I had a sister in Toowoomba, so I asked if Toowoomba was a good place to start. 'As a kid, I thought I wanted to grow up and do something with horses. 'Racing seemed pretty cool but it didn't seem to be something I would be able to do. 'I just didn't know anyone that did it or how to get into it. 'But it all really started to happen from that chat with Shane.' Jones is known for being as calm as a millpond and she has approached the week of her big Group 1 opportunity in the same way as any other week. It may be because she still has to pinch herself that she gets the chance to ride horses for a living. 'I will just treat the Tatt's Tiara like it is any other race,' Jones said. 'For me, it all started with a connection with horses. 'I was just happy that I got a job with horses, which was always my dream. 'I'm just happy being out there and I guess I forget about a lot of other things when I get on a horse. 'If you get to a point where you are trying too hard, you can over think things and make the wrong decisions.' Apart from hoping that Floozie elevates her into the Group 1 club, Jones can tick off another major milestone at Eagle Farm on Saturday. She currently sits on 99.5 winners (including a half point for a dead heat) in the Australian jockeys' premiership this season.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Tony Gollan mare Floozie primed to cap dream campaign in Group 1 Tatt's Tiara
Tony Gollan was itching to get back from a trip to Royal Ascot as he has been 'daring to dream' that he can take out the Group 1 Tatt's Tiara with winning machine Floozie. Gollan is an astute judge with his horses and it's not too often he raises the bar so dramatically as he has with Floozie, who has won four in a row for him since coming to Queensland from her previous trainers in Victoria. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Floozie was privately purchased by Yarraman Park Stud from her previous owners and when Gollan got her, he earmarked the Listed Silk Stocking on the Gold Coast as her number one winter carnival goal. But with that in the bag, as well as three other races including the Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes last start, Gollan is now shooting for the stars with four-year-old Floozie. Gollan returned to Australia on Monday from a trip to Royal Ascot and, in his time away, Floozie's Tatt's Tiara bid at Eagle Farm on Saturday had often been on his mind. Floozie brains them in the G2 Dane Ripper Stakes! ðŸ'¥ @tonygollan — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 14, 2025 'I went away last week, but I was itching to get back for this Tatt's Tiara meeting,' Gollan said. 'I really like this mare and she has come such a long way for us in such a short time, I really think she is a terrific chance. 'I had a plan to get black type for her during the carnival, I thought the Silk Stocking was the option that I really needed to target. 'That's why I did what I did to get her to that race third-up. 'But since then, we have really dared to dream. 'She was really good the other day and I felt there was still some good improvement in her. 'She has won at track and the trip and she has drawn to get a really nice run again. 'I wouldn't swap her for any other horse in the race, she is as good a chance as any.' Champion trainer Gollan feels like it has already been his best season but a win in the Tatt's Tiara, which would be his third Group 1 of the season following two from Antino, would be the cherry on top. Gollan believes the last Group 1 of the season has several chances, but unlike most years it doesn't have a mare which had come off a flashing light run in the Stradbroke Handicap. 'It's always a good race which has three or four chances in it,' Gollan said. 'The only difference this year is that you normally see a mare which has run really close-up in a Stradbroke, but it's devoid of that this year. 'So you would think form coming through the races we have come through is the right form. 'This would be my best season so far, but this would be a crowning moment. 'Angela (Jones) has been on the horse the whole way for me and has never put a foot wrong. 'She has always stuck to the plan and as the horse has built in confidence and built in form, the horse and rider combination has really continued to grow.' Floozie has drawn barrier nine and is a $4.40 chance on TAB fixed odds to score the final Group 1 of the racing season.
The Australian
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Australian
Different tales for Firestorm and Floozie in Tatt's test
Champion trainer Chris Waller and star jockey James McDonald have been set a task to bolster their amazing Group 1 records for 2024/25 after race favourite Firestorm drew wide in Saturday's Group 1 $700,000 Tatt's Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm. A capacity field of 17 runners and five emergencies was declared for the feature main event with Firestorm's draw in barrier 19 set to improve slightly when emergencies come out. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Waller is attempting to raise the bar to new heights with his 20th Group 1 of the season while McDonald is hunting his 22nd major of the season and 16th on Australian soil. Waller could saddle up as many as four starters in the final major of the Australian racing season with Firestorm ($4.40 favourite) joined by Konasana ($31), Olentia ($18) while Gumdrops ($34) is stranded as the fifth emergency. Queensland's leading trainer Tony Gollan has the best of the local hopes with impressive mare Floozie ($4.60) looking to cap off a remarkable preparation with her fifth consecutive victory. She has drawn in barrier nine. Victorian raider Grinzinger Belle ($9.50) and Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes runner-up Tashi give further depth to the Group 1 field. Floozie is the best of the Queensland contenders. Picture: Trackside Photography The Eagle Farm track was rated a Soft 5 at acceptance time. The rail will be in the 6m position on Saturday. Saturday's nine-race program commences at 11.43am with the final event to be run at 4.35pm. The Bureau Of Meteorology forecast for Brisbane is. Wednesday – Mostly sunny. 23. Thursday – Mostly sunny. 20. Friday – Partly cloudy. 21. Saturday – Partly cloudy. 21. CLICK HERE to get the fields and formguide for the Eagle Farm meeting on Saturday.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Trainer Lindsay Hatch would love nothing more than to see his former protege Angela Jones win a double on Saturday at Eagle Farm
Toowoomba trainer Lindsay Hatch would love nothing more than to see his former protege Angela Jones win a double on Saturday at Eagle Farm - firstly for him in the Battle Of The Bush final and then for her current boss Tony Gollan in the Group 1 Tatt's Tiara. Jones, 24, will ride gelding Peshwa in the $200,000 Battle Of The Bush final (1200m) and high-flying mare Floozie in the $700,000 Tatt's Tiara (1400m) in which she hopes to land her first major crown. Jones joined Hatch's stable straight after school and learnt her craft at various bush and provincial tracks before finally making the transition to Gollan's stable at Eagle Farm. She now sits second on the Brisbane metro jockeys' premiership standings on 56 wins, just three behind leader Emily Lang, setting up a thrilling fight for the title. Jones will ride consistent five-year-old Peshwa in the Battle Of The Bush final from barrier 12, with $116,000 going to the winning connections. 'She walked into my stable and she'd never ridden in a jockey's hat in a race,' Hatch said about the Charters Towers product. 'Ang Jones is a beautiful person, she listens to what you tell her and she does her best to follow instructions. 'She's very relaxed and that filters through to the horse she jumps on. 'She was never in a hurry and that's what has kept her in good stead. 'On her first day of riding she rode three winners at Dalby. She started to cry after the first win and then she cried all day because of the success she had. She couldn't believe it.' Hatch took over the training of the much travelled Peshwa from Ben Waldron in July last year. The gelding has finished top three in seven of his past eight races, with the aberration being his last-start ninth at Gayndah in a 1400m race on June 7. 'He's been a pretty handy horse. We don't know what to make of his last run, he was a bit flat but he's done well since,' Hatch said. 'He'll be hard to beat on Saturday. 'I'll tell you what, he's a very good-looking horse. He's nearly white, he's a grey to white. 'He prances around like he owns the joint too. He's a lovely horse.' The 17-race Battle Of The Bush series, now in its seventh edition, started in Goondiwindi in April and culminates in the final on Tatt's Tiara Day at Eagle Farm. 'I think it's a great concept,' Hatch said. 'It gives the bush people and bush owners a chance to get into town and have a crack at some decent money. 'Peshwa would probably struggle to be a chance in a no-metro or a one-metro in Brisbane where he's a good shot in this sort of race.'
