Man Of The Town to bounce back at Ipswich

By Glenn Davis

As a young kid growing up in North Queensland, horses were a familiar sight in the backyard of the Gough family.

Fast forward to now and the same Gough family has become an institution at Brisbane's Eagle Farm.

Firstly, it was the retired Barry Gough who trained in North Queensland before moving south to train for more than 20 years at Eagle Farm and the Gold Coast.

Since his retirement, sons Lindsay and Darren have both gone on to make their own marks on the local racing scene.

Darren Gough was a promising jockey before being badly injured in a trackwork fall which ended his career in saddle.

He is now part of the major success of brother Lindsay who has been training for 27 years at Eagle Farm.

Darren Gough’s involvement in racing was officially acknowledged when he was awarded Racing Queensland’s Stable Person of the Year recently. 

“Darren is a gun horseman and a far better horseman than me,” Lindsay said. 

“He was a promising jockey before he had the fall and he rode trackwork for seven years for Hong Kong trainer John Size and others when he was overseas.”

On Wednesday, Lindsay Gough will head to Ipswich to saddle Man Of The Town in the Benchmark 70 Handicap over 1700 metres.

Gough is confident Man Of The Town can bounce back from his last start defeat when seventh to the Annabel and Rob Archibald-trained Mazis in a Class 3 Handicap over 1805 metres at Eagle Farm.

The former South Australia galloper had won his three previous starts after joining the Gough stable at the start of the year.

“He was very immature when I first got him and half frightened,” Gough said.

“He was very nervy and use to tie-up a bit but he’s improved with maturity.”

Gough blamed a poor barrier for the five-year-old's run of wins ending at Eagle Farm.

“He drew the outside gate over 1800 metres at Eagle Farm last start which is a death trap for horses drawn wide there,” Gough said.

“He went back and didn’t have much luck so it wasn’t that bad a run.

“I think this race suits him and he should be hard to beat again.”