Wayne Wilson Medal set to be hotly contested

From up north in Cairns to the Gold Coast in the south, the annual Wayne Wilson Medal is always a hotly contested prize for trainers based in the Sunshine State.

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.

The medal consists of trainers being judged on a monthly basis before 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.

The latest Wayne Wilson Medal champion will be unveiled at the 2025 Queensland Thoroughbred Awards on Sunday, October 12.

Ahead of the unveiling of the winner for the 2024-25 campaign later this month, Racing Queensland has looked back on all the eligible trainers who have been nominated across the season.

August 2025 – John Dann

The Toowoomba hobby trainer made the long trip to North Queensland and was rewarded with the Townsville Cup for 2025.

Dann’s galloper Quothquan set a new track record in the process at Cluden Park.

Quothquan had been building towards the Townsville Cup triumph after running well in the traditional Cup lead-in races in Rockhampton and Mackay.

Quothquan is edging towards $300,000 in career stakes with four victories on his resume. 

July 2025 - Jeff Dunn 

Beaudesert trainer Jeff Dunn’s barn was up in lights during the middle stages of the year after his smart purchase Sha Of Gomer won a couple of feature events.

With Dunn’s wife Rikki Jamieson in the saddle, the team took out the Rockhampton Newmarket and the time-honoured Ramornie Handicap at Grafton.

Before those two big wins, Sha Of Gomer ran a close second in the Listed Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich.

June 2025 – Chris and Corey Munce

Chris Munce has been a regular at the highest level across his sparkling career in the industry, but boom youngster Cool Archie took his son Corey to new heights in the winter of 2025.

The colt was the undoubted star of the juvenile races through the carnival, culminating in a Group 1 J.J. Atkins romp at Eagle Farm.

Cool Archie won five consecutive races during the preparation (four of which were at stakes level), which is a remarkable feat by the horse and ‘Team Munce’.

The stable has big plans for Cool Archie in the coming years. 

May 2025 – Tony Gollan

A multiple-time winner of the Wayne Wilson Medal already, Gollan threw his hat in the ring for the 2025 edition on the back of Antino’s exploits.

Already a Group 1 champion in Victoria late last year, Gollan’s Antino added one more to his resume on home soil in the Doomben Cup.

He blitzed the Doomben Cup field by almost four lengths in track record time.

Antino also collected the Group 2 A.D. Hollindale Stakes at the Gold Coast in stunning fashion at the start prior to the Doomben Cup.

April 2025 – Shaun Dwyer 

Sunshine Coast trainer Shaun Dwyer only works with a small team of gallopers these days compared to the heights of his career, but he can still produce them at black-type level.

Dwyer’s Dragonne Rouge won the Listed Calaway Gal at Eagle Farm.

The two-year-old filly by Dracarys won three from three in her first preparation before finishing fifth in the rich Magic Millions National 2YO Classic under lights at the Gold Coast in late May.

March 2025 – Matt Kropp

The Toowoomba stable of Matt Kropp is known to travel far and wide across the Sunshine State in search of winners and they landed a sizeable one on the big stage in the middle of March.

Kropp’s Red Defcon won the Gold Jewel at the Gold Coast, which boasted a purse of $150,000.

The four-year old mare by Defcon certainly deserved to win a feature race after many good performances in quality events.

She has now won three races, as well as 14 minor placings, and earned more than $400,000. 

February 2025 – Kelly Schweida 

While most Wayne Wilson Medal nominees for the year are for victories on home soil, Brisbane’s Kelly Schweida landed his bid down in Victoria.

The veteran Eagle Farm trainer travelled El Morzillo to Melbourne and was rewarded for his efforts.

The grey mare went to Flemington and landed the $1 million Inglis Sprint by almost a length.

The Star Witness product headed home for the winter carnival and the mare campaigned well in feature events.

January 2025 – Barry Lockwood

The monthly nominees are usually for trainers winning races, but respected Brisbane conditioner Barry Lockwood received this nod for running second.

Lockwood’s stable star Give Me Space ran an excellent race in the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas behind Bosustow.

The Cosmic Force gelding came from way back in the field to storm home and just miss out on the major share of the $3 million prize pool on offer.

Give Me Space was one of only two Queensland-trained horses to finish in the top 10 in the event.

The owner of Give Me Space, Rodney Hay, is a country trainer in his own right.

December 2024 – Craig Cousins

As a hobby trainer and local truck driver in Brisbane, Craig Cousins and his stable star The Inflictor have been a revelation over the last year.

The affable Cousins and The Inflictor won The Gateway at Eagle Farm which is a prestigious and well sought-after race, not just for the $300,000 prize money, but also for the golden ticket giving automatic entry into the 2025 Stradbroke Handicap.

While The Inflictor could not claim Stradbroke glory in the end, he did run credibly and Cousins was one of the main attractions during the winter carnival for his positive and fun demeanour.

The Inflictor went on to win the Tattersall’s Mile – which is run at Listed level – after the Stradbroke Handicap.

November 2024 - John Symons and Sheila Laxon

In a month where a Queensland stable won the Melbourne Cup, this nominee is a fairly obvious one.

The Sunshine Coast-based team of John Symons and Sheila Laxon won the Melbourne Cup with Knight’s Choice as Queensland-based hoop Robbie Dolan did the steering.

For Laxon, it was her second win in Australia's greatest handicap race with just her second ever runner.

She also won with Ethereal in 2001.

For John, it was his first ever starter in the race that stops the nation.

Knight’s Choice was certainly a boom horse in Queensland in the early stages of his career after winning the Group 3 Winx Guineas as a three-year-old in dominant fashion.

October 2024 – Tony Gollan

The first of two Tony Gollan nominations for this award, it was star galloper Antino who again put on a show for the premier Brisbane trainer. 

The reigning Queensland Horse of the Year smashed his rivals in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap at Caulfield.

The win was fueled by a daring ride from quality hoop Blake Shinn to take over the race in the middle stages and Antino scored by almost seven lengths.

Prior to the Toorak Handicap, the writing was on the wall for Antino in the three Group race lead-up runs against the best horses.

The Toorak Handicap triumph was a fitting response after finishing a close second in the race the year prior.

September 2024 – Cameron Richardson 

Toowoomba’s Cameron Richardson enjoyed a stellar run with his star three-year-old Pope Cody before he was eventually sold to Hong Kong.

Pope Cody won a Saturday metro QTIS race and followed it up by winning the Toowoomba Guineas by a barnstorming seven lengths. 

He was purchased by overseas buyers not long after and has raced well in Hong Kong since.

Richardson is only in the infancy of his training tenure after learning the racing game from his father Harry. 

August 2024 – Peter Robl

Former jockey Peter Robl was rewarded for his unusual plan to send galloper Hadouken north to the Northern Territory for their annual carnival.

The gelding thrived on the sand conditions of the Fannie Bay track and won the feature Darwin Cup.

Robl had ridden in Darwin a few times and knew what sort of horse was needed for the conditions.

Now based on the Gold Coast after a career in the saddle, Robl returned to Darwin with Hadouken in 2025 and repeated the dose to become a back-to-back champion of the annual event.