Tony Gollan was born and bred in Toowoomba exposed to horse training from a young age with his father Darryl Gollan being a successful horseman and trainer himself. In 1999, Tony took out a training license at the age of 20 with a small stable in Toowoomba. His first winner was Carbon Shadow in a provincial maiden at Clifford Park on 3 July 1999 and first metropolitan winner was Nova Serrure at Doomben on 4 September 1999 made even more memorable ridden by good friend Stathi Katsidis. After trying his hand training in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Tony returned to Toowoomba to further hone his skills alongside his father Darryl and also learn from legendary trainer Jim Atkins.
In 2003, Tony revived his own training stable in Toowoomba with one of his first acquisitions being a Special Dane filly from Eureka Stud’s Colin and Scott McAlpine. Her name was Temple Spirit and she would set the path for Tony’s future training success. Whilst she won eight races and over $130,000 in prizemoney, it was her first two offspring that would become trailblazers for the stable – Temple Of Boom and Spirit Of Boom. The Boom brothers would win a combined 20 races including 3 Group 1s and over $4 million in prizemoney. Temple Of Boom provided Tony with his first Group 1 success taking out the The Galaxy at Randwick on 21 April 2012.
Not long after in the winter of 2012, Tony relocated the stable to Eagle Farm and has not looked back. He won his first metropolitan trainer’s premiership in 2013/14, broke the late Bruce McLachlan’s record for city winners with 79 in 2014/15, and broke 100 city winners for the first time in 2019/20. He won his 8th successive metropolitan trainer’s premiership in 2020/21 with 103 city winners.
Off the track, Tony is committed to the welfare of retired racehorses with wife Jane establishing Transitioning Thoroughbreds Foundation in 2020, a great initiative to support life after racing for thoroughbreds. Tony also loves his time outside of racing with his young family and following rugby league at all levels, being a Queensland Under 19 representative himself in his youth.
