Gollan adds second Wayne Wilson Medal to resume

By Jordan Gerrans

Just as the late great Wayne Wilson designed it, the battle for the medal named in his honour went down to the wire in 2021 between a small-time bush trainer and one of the big boys in town.

The annual medal named after the legendary race caller is run by the Australian Trainers' Association and every year honours trainers from across Queensland who have recorded a special career milestone or improved their personal best result.

It was premier Brisbane trainer Tony Gollan who prevailed in an exciting count on Thursday evening, just outlasting Rockhampton trainer Kevin Hansen – Gollan claiming his second Wayne Wilson Medal by just two votes.

Gollan was awarded the second ever WWM around a decade ago and won the prize this year following stable mates Vega One and Jonker being the first two past the post in the Group 1 Kingsford-Smith Cup earlier this year.

Hansen and Gollan are in different universes when it comes to training, the Central Queenslander poking along with a few horses, while the leading Eagle Farm trainer has rattled off eight straight Brisbane premierships.

“Kevin and I there, we were one and two for ages there in voting,” Gollan said.

“The month Kevin won the monthly award, I won a Group 1 in Sydney and did not win the monthly award, and that is what it is all about and that is how Wayne wanted the award to be decided on and tonight is a good example of that.

“I am thrilled to have won it and it would not have mattered to me if someone else won it because they all would have been worthy recipients of this award.”

Hansen’s boom filly Sweet Dolly – who is unbeaten in four trips to the races – gave the Rockhampton horseman a special ride through the last year and into second position in the annual medal.

Cameron Partington, from the Queensland arm of the Australian Trainers’ Association, believes Gollan was a worthy winner.

“It is about an event, something the trainer does, and for Tony Gollan this year – winning the medal for the second time – equalling Rob Heathcote, which I am sure he is happy about to equal his arch rival,” Partington said.

“Tony quinellaed a Group 1 race in his home state with Vega One and Jonker, they are both horses he has had in his stable for quite a while now and particularly Vega One who has had a lot of setbacks, it was a great training achievement for him.

“To be on the biggest possible stage, winning a Group 1 race in your hometown and to quinella it – it is up there with his highest achievements in racing and that is where he gets his votes from – it would equal his personal best effort.

“I am sure the satisfaction he got from that day at Eagle Farm was huge.”

The medal consists of trainers being judged on a monthly basis before 19 judges, who come from the media and racing industry, rank the monthly winners each month to land on an eventual overall winner – in a process similar to the AFL’s Brownlow Medal.

Gollan was proud to win an award for the second time named after an icon of Australian racing.

“Wayne was a great man, a great race caller and all the rest, but he was a very good man,” Gollan said.

“He set this award, it is a different award with each monthly award winner doing something above and beyond how they would normally handle it.

“It is hard to win the monthly award let alone win the overall one.

“Anyone could have won it, the voting process shows that, and it is a great award to win and I am thrilled to be a part of it.”

Now in its 11^th year, the annual medal has grown in its significance within the industry, according to Partington.

“When Wayne was still alive, I was close with Wayne and we wanted to use his name to honour a trainer that has done something significant as an achievement,” Partington said.

“It is about the trainer lifting their personal bar.

“Some of the winners over the years have been small trainers from country towns with just a few horses.

“Usually the right person wins the medal at the end of it all.”

In other awards on the evening, Gold Coast trainer Kacy Fogden was recognised as the rising star trainer within the Sunshine State.

Fogden, who has trained in her own right for three years, collected 36 victories last season – up 14 from her previous campaign.

“It is a huge kudos to our team back at the farm, they put a lot of work into our horses and what we do every day and obviously the family that support us every day in what we do,” Fogden said.

“I think it is the recognition for the right people.

“Racing has always been in my blood, my granddad trained and my father owned.

“I have settled down and made it a career now.”

Fogden's primary stable client is Aquis Farm, who she thanked for all their support.

Partington thinks Fogden is a trainer to watch in the coming years.

“It is for a trainer that has just come into the industry in the last few years – it does not need to be a young person – it can be someone a bit older or someone that comes from a non-horse racing background,” Partington said.

“Kacy has come from a different background before training, then become a strapper and foreman for other trainers for a while before she has gone out on her own.

“We think she will set herself to be a metropolitan trainer to watch.”

Veteran trainer Pat Duff was recognised for his contribution to the Queensland arm of the Australian Trainers’ Association on the night as well.

Deagon-based Duff, a long-time president of the Association, has had a newly award named after him – the Pat Duff Trophy – which honours trainers who go out of their way to support others within the industry.

Trainer Les Ross, a close friend of Duff’s, was the first recipient of the prize.