Top NSW duo head north to Queensland

By Jordan Gerrans

The leading training team of Darryl Thomas and Michelle Sultana are on the move to the Sunshine State and are set to be operational in Queensland ahead of the upcoming Golden Greys Summer Carnival.

The New South Wales-based Thomas and Sultana kennel had a short northern stint through the winter of 2024 with former star chaser Mackenna scoring in the Match Race of the annual Origin Greyhound Series.

A couple of years before The Q opened in Queensland, Sultana and Thomas purchased a property at South Maclean with an eye to potentially shifting north from their current Londonderry base.

The move has finally come to fruition with the training team set to lob in the coming weeks boasting a contingent consisting of Group-level chasers Gus The Jet, Massaro and Rinsed The Lot, among others.

Sultana and Thomas have been one of the champion kennels in NSW in recent years, regularly boasting impressive strike-rates while also being competitive at Group 1 level.

Speaking on Friday morning, Sultana was set to travel north imminently to check out The Q ahead of the permanent move. 

“For me and Darryl, New South Wales has been great to us and we have won multiple Group 1s,” Sultana said.

“But, it is time for us to come up with the prizemoney up in Queensland and just everything.

“There are so many incentives to come up, we like the idea of three tracks being at one facility, which will cut down the travel time for us in the car with dogs.

“We are excited to come up there; we loved it when we came up for the three months last time. We really enjoyed it and it is something that we both need.”

Sultana and Thomas’ eight-acre property at South Maclean is about 25 minutes away from The Q, which was a key ingredient in the kennel’s decision-making process.

“NSW racing has been great to us. We’ve had so much fun, enjoyment and success but it’s not just about racing for us anymore,” Thomas said.

“We want a different lifestyle. We want more balance and we want to be on the road less.

“It’s a big move, it’s a big change, it’s a little bit scary. Will people give us dogs to train once we get settled in? We hope so but it’s the fear of the unknown.

“Speaking to all our owners gave us a lot of confidence. Everyone has been supportive so far, so it looks like we’ll be working with a lot of the same people and that’s positive.

“Michelle’s record speaks for itself and I think most people know we can do a great job with their dogs. We’ll place them to win and most importantly, we’ll still travel interstate to try and claim big races.”

The training combination are in the final stages of completing their kennel block at South Maclean to house around 20 chasers.

“We want to slow up a little bit, as well,” Sultana said.

“We have gone from 60 dogs down to 40 and we will be going to 20 when we race in Queensland. We will get a bit more time for us, away from the dogs, as well.

“We are going to have a handy team. That is what we want, we want to make sure everything up there is ready to go with the kennel block and our runs, we want to have that in place before we come up.

“We want to come up and hit the ground running.”

Sultana says they are likely to use their new property more so to prepare their dogs for their upcoming assignments instead of trialing on The Q tracks itself. 

The training team have been one of the most prolific operations across the country in recent years.

Sultana boasts a strike-rate in NSW alongside the likes of Peter Lagogiane and Jason Magri while Gus The Jet claimed the Group 1 2025 Vic Peters Classic at Wentworth Park in July. 

Kennelmate Rinsed The Lot nabbed the same feature event the year prior.

Sultana says they have had a number of inquiries from Melbourne in regards to taking on dogs in recent times while they are also working with a strong crop of young stock coming through the ranks.

With more than $2.1 million in stakes up for grabs, the Golden Greys will once again attract some of the nation’s premier chasers to the Sunshine State for seven feature race nights, headlined by the $375,000 Group 1 Gold Bullion.

Staged from December to February, the Golden Greys will see the nation’s best sprinters and stayers chasing glory over the summer months.