Queensland horseman Tony Gollan celebrated a huge result in the Kingsford-Smith Cup 2021 at Eagle Farm with his horses Vega One and Jonker running a Group 1 quinella.
Vega One (pictured at the Gold Coast) scored an upset win in the 2021 Kingsford-Smith Cup. Photo: Steve Hart.
The former Toowoomba-based trainer now calls Brisbane home and enjoyed his fifth career Group 1 with an upset in this year’s $700,000 Kingsford-Smith Cup (1300m) thanks to a brilliant ride by champion female hoop Jamie Kah.
“To run one-two in a Group 1 here at home, and this is home now, is just fantastic,” Gollan told Sky Thoroughbred Central after the race.
Kah became the winningest Group 1 female rider in Australian racing history with six, going past Michelle Payne after winning the Kingsford-Smith Cup aboard Gollan’s Lope De Vega five-year-old Vega One.
The galloper broke down badly after his fourth in last year’s Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) and was sent to Victoria to undergo rehab.
After much work and patience, Vega One returned this April and has been racing in excellent fashion including a second in the Group 2 Victory Stakes (1200m) and last start fourth when under a length beaten in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m).
Up to the 1300m, fit fourth-up and on a Good track he was too good for his rivals even after getting checked in a vital stage on the straight.
Kah never panicked despite finding herself behind a wall of horses the final furlong, instead sneaking out into a gap on the outside and flashing home out of nowhere to deny the fellow Gollan-trained Jonker who nearly went all-the-way after leading the field around.
“That’s so good,” Gollan said.
“I’m so proud of these horses.
“He (Vega One) had a major injury last year after the Stradbroke. They rehabbed him really well down in Victoria.
“I didn’t know where to look. I thought Jonker was going to hang on.”
The runner-up, Spirit Of Boom entire Jonker, was having his first run since a third to subsequent Doomben 10,000 champion Eduardo in Sydney’s Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) on March 27 and further franked that form with his brave second.
In third rounding out the Kingsford-Smith Cup trifecta was the Peter & Paul Snowden-trained Signore Fox towards the inside, while the Godolphin-raced Trekking ran a strong fourth after looming as a danger late down the outside.
Gollan suggested that they could go around again with Vega One in the $1.5 million Stradbroke Handicap back at the track on June 12.
“It was a long-range mission to get here and into the Stradbroke again with him,” he said.
“We’ve had a torrid time with him this prep…so it’s just amazing.
“We were on a knife’s edge whether we were even going to be here this week, with just a million little things going wrong.
“The horse did a great job.”
All-in Stradbroke Handicap odds at Ladbrokes.com.au on Vega One at $8 (in from $12), while Jonker has firmed notably in from $51 to $21.
Click here for the latest pre-field 2021 Stradbroke Handicap betting markets courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.
2021 Kingsford-Smith Cup Results & Finishing Order
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Penalty | Starting Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | VEGA ONE | Tony Gollan | Ms Jamie Kah | 13 | 59kg | $12 | |||
| 2 | 10 | JONKER | Tony Gollan | Jim Byrne | 0.5L | 4 | 59kg | $15 | ||
| 3 | 11 | SIGNORE FOX | Peter & Paul Snowden | Ryan Maloney | 0.6L | 5 | 59kg | $51 | ||
| 4 | 1 | TREKKING | James Cummings | Kerrin McEvoy | 0.8L | 12 | 59kg | $8 | ||
| 5 | 6 | VICTOREM | Jenny Graham | Mark Du Plessis | 1L | 2 | 59kg | $26 | ||
| 6 | 3 | SAVATOXL | Tony & Calvin McEvoy | Barend Vorster | 1.2L | 14 | 59kg | $15 | ||
| 7 | 14 | OUTBACK BARBIE | Tony Gollan | Brenton Avdulla | 1.4L | 9 | 57kg | $31 | ||
| 8 | 16 | DAME GISELLE | Peter & Paul Snowden | Tim Clark | 1.7L | 6 | 55kg | $17 | ||
| 9 | 13 | SAVATIANO | James Cummings | Hugh Bowman | 1.8L | 8 | 57kg | $4F | ||
| 10 | 8 | NICCANOVA | Steve Tregea | James Orman | 1.9L | 11 | 59kg | $7.50 | ||
| 11 | 5 | KEMENTARI | James Cummings | Joshua Parr | 2.65L | 1 | 59kg | $19 | ||
| 12 | 2 | GYTRASH | Gordon Richards | Jason Collett | 2.85L | 15 | 59kg | $6 | ||
| 13 | 12 | BLAZEJOWSKI | Greg Eurell | Jye McNeil | 3.6L | 10 | 59kg | $51 | ||
| 14 | 7 | SO SI BON | Tom Dabernig & Ben Hayes | Craig Williams | 3.8L | 3 | 59kg | $21 | ||
| 15 | 15 | PENNINO | Darryl Hansen | Ms Tiffani Brooker | 4.2L | 7 | 57kg | $201 | ||
| 4 | IMAGING (GB) | Chris Waller | James McDonald | 0 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
