Brisbane’s premier trainer Tony Gollan was lucky to make it to the Queensland Thoroughbred Awards in Brisbane on Sunday, let alone walk away with a swag of top gongs.
Gollan suffered a nasty gash above his left eye after hitting his head on the top of a door while getting out of a Hummer on his way to the awards ceremony at The Star casino in Brisbane.
The nine-time Group 1 winner made a quick visit to St Vincent’s Private Hospital at Kangaroo Point to get his wound stitched-up before finally arriving at the awards, much to the delight of the enraptured crowd at the gala ceremony.
“I had to get a scratch attended to but it’s not as dramatic as it sounds,” he told Racenet.
“It’s not the end of the world.”
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His nasty accident came just 24 hours after winning back-to-back Toorak Handicap crowns on Saturday when his five-year-old gelding Transatlantic took out the 1600m Group 1 contest in a thrilling win over Evaporate.
Not only did Gollan win Queensland trainer of the year and his stable star Antino pick up the state’s coveted horse of the year award on Sunday, but more importantly the Toowoomba-raised trainer was inducted into the Queensland Hall Of Fame.
Trainer Tony Gollan, pictured with top jockeys Angela Jones (left) and Emily Lang, sports the evidence of his run-in with a Hummer door that saw him recieve some stitches above his left eye yesterday. Picture: Michael McInally Photography
Gollan claimed the Jim Atkins Trainer of the Year Award for the 12th straight season.
He saddled up 193 winners across the state, the most of any trainer, while securing the metropolitan trainers’ premiership with 134 victories.
Gollan was recently filmed in a candid moment in which he broke down in tears after stable foreman Craig Cavanough revealed to his boss that he would become a Hall Of Fame inductee alongside jockey great Michael Pelling and the “King of Doomben” Chief De Beers.
• Antino wins back-to-back Queensland horse of the year titles
“It definitely caught me by surprise, I had no idea that this was coming,” he told the audience at the Star casino in Brisbane on Sunday.
“To be among those people that I looked up to and who were my heroes growing up as a young trainer, to be put up beside them is something that is quite overwhelming.
“It’s quite humbling. I’ve been training for 26 years so it certainly hasn’t been an overnight thing and it’s been a hell of a journey.
“When I moved down from Toowoomba to Brisbane in 2012 it was all or nothing.
“I didn’t know what else I would do, certainly not drive Ubers.”
“There’s something in the water in Brisbane at the moment!”
Tony Gollan has had a month to remember, and Antino’s Cox Plate tilt is still to come 😎 pic.twitter.com/G3MNCvOv4X
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 11, 2025
• Cool Archie crowned Queensland 2YO of the year
He recalled a conversation with legendary horse whisperer Peter Moody, the trainer of the champion mare Black Caviar, when he was “broke” in his late 20s and struggling as a trainer.
“It was a tough sport to crack into and I felt like I was working hard and getting nowhere,” Gollan said.
“I asked him (Moody) for a job and he just called me a dickhead and said ‘just keep working’.
“He was pretty right, I am a dickhead and I just kept working!
“Sometimes you doubt yourself … but I was fortunate enough that I was able to pick myself up and keep going.”
It seems a bit harsh that a Melbourne Cup champion was beaten for the Queensland horse of the year award but that’s what happened on Sunday when Antino backed up his victory in the top category from last year, beating 2024 Cup winner Knight’s Choice and winter carnival sensation Cool Archie for the top gong.
Dual Group 1 wins in the Toorak and Doomben Cups cement Antino, @tonygollan‘s stable champion, as @sportsbetcomau Queensland Horse of the Year! What a star! 🌟 #QLDisRacingpic.twitter.com/giaEeQH4NH
— RaceQ (@RaceQLD) October 12, 2025
• Hall of Fame induction brings Gollan to tears
Antino produced a blistering spring campaign in Melbourne during the 2024-25 season, breaking through for his maiden Group 1 victory in unforgettable fashion via the Toorak Handicap, alongside placings in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes and Champions Mile.
The seven-year-old then returned north to claim the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes on the Gold Coast and a dominant Group 1 Doomben Cup victory.
“He’s our stable champion and I’m really pleased for him to be Queensland champion again,” Gollan said about Antino, who will contest his spring “grand final” in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley on October 25.
“The way he can hold his speed for longer periods than any other horse I’ve trained makes him pretty special.”