By Andrew Adermann
All eyes will be on Saturday’s Listed Magic Millions Nudgee Stakes as Tony Gollan’s star mare Isotope makes her highly anticipated return after a near eight-month layoff.
Isotope announced herself as one of Queensland’s premier gallopers over the last 18 months, running second in the Group 2 Champagne Classic last winter, before a summer campaign that netted her two Listed triumphs – the Gold Edition Plate and Mode Plate.
The four-year-old was last seen at the races during the Sydney autumn where she claimed the Listed Darby Munro Stakes at Rosehill in impressive fashion before a heartbreaking second placing to subsequent Group 1 winner, Wild Ruler, in the Group 2 Arrowfield Sprint at Randwick.
Following that run, things took a turn for the worse while spelling in NSW, where she suffered a colic attack and was forced to undergo surgery, ruling her out of racing for the remainder of 2021.
“She went out for a routine break after the Arrowfield in Sydney and they noticed that she was just a little bit off her game in the paddock and a little bit colicy,” Gollan said.
“We were lucky enough to have a really good person on hand down there and the people at Agnes Banks in Sydney.
“She was there for about a night and they realised that it was going to be pretty nasty. She had an impaction colic, so something stuck in her stomach that she couldn’t pass through so they quickly operated on her and removed the blockage – the rest of it has been fairly smooth sailing.
“She’s had the required amount of time off and has come back here for a smooth prep thus far.”
The TAB Queensland Summer Racing Carnival was always Gollan’s aim for Isotope, and he believes that he has got her in near perfect order for Saturday’s assignment.
The premier trainer could not have asked for a better barrier ahead of the mare’s return, drawing three in the field of 16, with long-time partner in crime Ryan Maloney aboard.
“I knew that by the time I got her back in that I had enough time to have her ready for Magic Millions day,” he said.
“I didn’t know whether we’d get the run in on New Year’s Day but that didn’t really matter to me, and I was happy to take as long as needed to get her back.
“She’s had the trial plus a 1000-metre jump out as well so she has a really good base under her and has done plenty of track work – she’s been working with Krone the whole way through so they are two handy mares to have working together.
“Realistically it will depend on the track conditions on Saturday; if it was a really testing track I’d just expect a nice first-up run but if the surface is fairly standard then I’d expect her to be very hard to beat.”
Looking past The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions Raceday, Gollan is quietly confident that Isotope can follow a similar path to that forged by Group 1 Coolmore Classic champion Krone earlier this year.
“I’m not totally sure where her distance range is yet; if I thought she can step out to that 1400 or 1500 metres then I’d love to get her to the Coolmore in Sydney otherwise we’ll have her here for the winter,” he said.
“It will all depend on a few discussions post-Millions but at this stage we are keen to take her to Sydney in the autumn.