GOLLAN WINS MORETON CUP

Baller wins Group Two Moreton Cup

Queensland trainer Gollan already has Isotope directed at the Group One Stradbroke Handicap and now he has the chance to run Baller in the same race after the six year old won the Group 2 Moreton Cup at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

The win brings to an end a number of near misses for the Gollan stable in Black Type racing with Baller winning under the ride of Hugh Bowman who wins the race for the second consecutive year. 

While winning the Moreton Cup gives direct entry to the Stradbroke Handicap, Gollan confirmed he wouldn’t be racing Baller in the $1.5m contest.

Gollan was quickly becoming fed up with a string of second placings after Palladas, Bezique and Garibaldi all managed to get narrowly beaten, but back-to-back wins with Vinco and Baller quickly put them behind him,

“I was getting over it pretty quickly,” Gollan smiled.

“It was a slow start to the day but we have come to the party now.”

Baller has been a highly rated runner but when often performing below par Gollan admitted it had been hard work to get him back into the winners enclosure.

“The interruptions to this horse have made life really hard getting him fit,” he said.

“He is a really big horse, getting him fit is a challenge. He has really bad front feet so our farrier has done an amazing job getting them right.

“If you can get the right surface, get him fully fit and get his feet right – there are a lot of ifs there – but if you get them to line up, you get a really good horse.”

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