Sultana and Thomas go bang in new Queensland move

By Jordan Gerrans

In their first foray into carnival racing in the Sunshine State as local residents, Michelle Sultana and Darryl Thomas couldn’t have dreamed of a better start.

The training team were victorious in a heat of the Queensland Derby (Winsome Jet) and Bogie Leigh Futurity (Zipping Ariel) last Thursday evening at The Q as well as taking out New Years Trophy Final (Zipping Xaden).

While Sultana and Thomas are only in caretaker mode for the three dogs who put their name up in lights last week during the Queensland Golden Greys Summer Racing Carnival, they do believe it is a sign of positive things to come in their new venture.

“We were hoping that we'd start off well and it has ended up that way,” Sultana said.

“So, let's hope our luck can keep going.”

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.

They finally did so in the back end of 2025 to ensure they were ready to roll once the rich summer carnival commenced.

“It's a great start,” Thomas said.

“We were fortunate enough to get these dogs from Melinda Finn (who trains Winsome Jet and Zipping Xaden) to send them up for these races. 

“It'd be good if they were our dogs but it's a privilege for us to have these dogs and it was a great start.”

Winsome Jet and Zipping Ariel are racing under Sultana’s training banner while Zipping Xaden is being prepared by Thomas for the Queensland carnival.

The task gets much tougher this week for the Sultana pair as they both jump from the green alley in the Group 2 features.

Winsome Jet clocked the quickest of the four heats last Thursday evening in 29.60 seconds over the 520 metre trip from the four starting position. 

“They were great runs,” Sultana said of her two heat winners last week.

“That was their second time out of those boxes, so we just expected them to go good. 

“We didn't expect them to probably go as well as they did. They did trial okay, but they had a flight up and then they were straight to the track a couple of days later. So, those runs were okay and look they'll be both better for those runs next week.

“I really believe that Winsome Jet can come out a lot better this week. He's just a young dog learning still. 

“So, he probably hasn't had as much experience as Ariel but he definitely he can put his foot down and come out a lot better.”

Winsome Jet and Zipping Ariel both headed north following the Group 1 Paul Wheeler Final at Wentworth Park late in December.

Neither chaser figured in the finish for the rich Sydney event, but it has proved to be a perfect lead-in run for their Queensland tilt.

Courtney Barnes prepared Zipping Ariel, who has qualified for multiple Group Finals in her career, before her Sunshine State campaign with Sultana.

Previously based at Londonderry in Western Sydney, the long-time training team of Sultana and Thomas are busy finishing their kennels at South Maclean. 

After training out of their own properties over the years as well as viewing other kennels, Sultana and Thomas want to bring all their knowledge together to build a perfect racing environment for their chasers in Queensland.

“We've been in this game a long time, so you get to see a lot of other places and see what works for us and what didn't work for us,” Thomas said.

“It's just been a long-drawn-out plan so when we did sort of design our own place, we wanted to do it how we wanted and so far, it's getting there.

“There's a few things that we still need to fix and make better, but it'll be really good in the end.”

While they have the option to trial at The Q and Capalaba, they are aiming to do a large portion of their training work at their new South Maclean home.

“Well, we've done a fair bit to the property,” Sultana said.

“It was a blank canvas for us, so we've put a slipping track in up the back and we've never really had that before sand. So that's helping us immensely with our training.

“We don't have to leave the property as much, which is what we wanted. 

“There is a lot of emptying yards and everything's just coming together slowly, we're getting there.”

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

In the northern move, they were keen to be close to The Q which would cut down time spent in the car travelling to the track to race and trial.

The duo lamented the amount of time they spent on the road in NSW in recent years.

“We just like the concept of what's happening up here,” Sultana said.

“It was always in the back of our minds to move up here eventually. The prizemoney is just amazing and you know we're here to win money, as well. So, it's just one of those things where we want the lifestyle, also.

“We decided to move to Queensland for the lifestyle and for the racing.”

After racing upwards of 45 chasers at one time during earlier stints in their career, Sultana and Thomas will downsize their numbers in Queensland and prepare a boutique kennel which aims for quality over quantity.

They have 22 in work at the start of 2026 and plan to get down to around 20 following the carnival.

“We want quality,” Sultana said.

“We want to race all the time. We're going to have the dogs to keep up with the better trainers up here so that's good.”

While they are racing Winsome Jet, Zipping Ariel and Zipping Xaden in a caretaker capacity during the carnival, the Queensland newcomers will soon unleash their own Group-level chasers Gus The Jet and Massaro.

Thomas and Sultana 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.

Zipping Xaden has drawn the four alley in a heat of the Group 1 Golden Sands on Thursday night.