Premier Australian trainer Tony Gollan has a potential A$14 million Everest runner. His 4YO gelding is unbeaten in 6 starts career earnings of A$304,200.00 to his name.
The colt found his way to the erstwhile Spirit Of Boom and Temple Of Boom trainer by sheer luck and his good relations with bloodstock agent John Foote who helps with him with their annual bloodstock purchases.
Zoustyle was offered as a yearling at the Magic Magic’s Gold Coast sale but as there were some x-ray issues, the sale didn’t go through. Under advisement by Foote who also helped the owners with their bloodstock purchases, sent the yearling to Gollan.
“The yearling underwent necessary corrective surgery and was given plenty of rest to recover.”
“Eventually after gelding, he started his racing career later as a 2YO at the end of the year. We haven’t looked back since.”
The 4YO is unbeaten since he started.
“He is a pretty straightforward horse to train.”
“He has his quirks, but he is not a lazy horse and learns quickly,” said Gollan with obvious pride.
Gollan has a straightforward process to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to yearling purchases. Foote looks at all the catalogues to cull the list down to a reasonable 50-60 horses. Then they jointly vetted and price points are ascertained. Eventually after a further culling, they make their trips down to the stables.
Foote was responsible for much more when it came to Zoustyle. He was involved in the mating of Zoustyle's dam Fashion (Ger) (Anabaa {USA}) out of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale and the then freshman sire Zoustar.
Desharon Bloodstock’s homebred is co-owned by Des Whybird with his wife Sharon, along with Stableboard Bloodstock, which managed by their good friends Russell Board and Narelle Ivers.
Gollan prefers to make his sprinter/ miler purchases at the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale in January, which is held close to his stables. He also makes a trip down to the Karaka sale for stayers. Although there may be other sales he could consider, these are the two main sales he attends.
His clients usually provide him with some idea of his plans in the last quarter of the year, before he makes his shopping list.
Akin to other elite trainers, he prefers to buy yearlings rather than ready-to-race horses.
Going back to Zoustyle, “He certainly has the ability. We now need to know how he would perform under peer pressure.”
“He needs to be adaptable in a scenario where he doesn’t get to lead.”
“He has an abundance of speed and he also has an X-factor.”
“He can race really fast and he has thrown up some great speed in sectionals as well,” concluded Gollan.
Now all that remains is for someone to scoop him up for the A$14 million Everest.