Blood, sweat and barriers finally pay off for Nolan

By Jordan Gerrans

It is a challenging task for any trainer to find their first winner in racing, but Gympie’s Michael A Nolan may have earned his a little more than most.

Nolan, who looks after the track for the local club at Gympie, took on former barrier rogue Not Happening as one of his first assignments after taking out his training licence.

The Queensland horseman has been around gallopers his entire life and has also worked in underground mining, but only took out his own training ticket over the past year.

Not Happening went through the doors of three different stables - Trevor Thomas, Julie Harris and Barry Gill - before she was ever presented on raceday.

After plenty of blood, sweat and tears teaching the mare the tricks of the barriers, the five-year-old finally won her first race at Bundaberg on Saturday and, in the process, Nolan broke through for his first triumph, as well.

“I ended up buying her off them because they had trouble getting her into the barriers and they didn't have the time to muck around with her and I did,” the veteran horseman recalls.

“I had to get her to go in and she won't go in with a jockey on her. You've got no chance of getting her in with a jockey on her own.

“It's just funny, some of them get some funny things in their heads and once they're in there, a lot of people don't realise this, but once a horse learns something three times, you'll never get rid of it. It'll be there for a lifetime.

“There was a lot of hard yards behind the scenes, slowly, slowly getting her used to them.

“I'd put her in there every day, going in and going out and I'd walk her in and walk her out and feed her in there.

“A lot of hard yards, you can work with them. But, a lot of just bad habits they learn, I think.”

Not Happening scored at her fifth career start for Nolan at Bundaberg on Saturday over 1212 metres on the sand surface.

She started as the $1.70 favourite and scored by more than two lengths, with apprentice jockey Kayla Johnston steering the mare to victory.

It was also a big weekend for Johnston, who landed a winning double at Caloundra on Sunday afternoon.

The 67-year-old Nolan was thrilled to see his mare, who he owns, finally land the prize.

“She has generally progressed and been going along pretty well,” he said.

“She always had a bit of trouble getting into the barriers to start with, but after that, she's been ticking along really good, actually.

“It was a dream come true to see her win. I reckon a dream came true. My brother had horses up in Mount Isa and he had a couple at Townsville for a while.

“I had a bit of a point to prove that I was just as good as him (laughs)."

As Nolan’s comments about his brother’s training history suggest, his family has been around the game for decades.

Lyle Nolan – Stephen and Michael’s father – trained a team of horses in New South Wales.

“When we were young fellas, when we were kids, my father had racehorses and we used to do a fair bit of trackwork,” Nolan said.

“Me and my brother, we'd ride his horses and he was a pretty good old trainer.

“He was never a world beater, but he could always get a horse going and he always thought about the horse more than anything.

“I have done lots of camp drafting and roping horses over the years, before going into training now.”

Nolan worked across Australia, as well as internationally, as an underground miner before taking on the role as track coordinator at Gympie, which allows him to dabble with a few racehorses, as well.

“It's a good job and they're good people,” he said.

“They're all good people here. All the trainers and everything here are good people, easy to talk to.

“They're all horse people, so you've all got a common interest.”

As well as Not Happening, Nolan has Auburn Flame and Dee Coder currently spelling, while he is looking forward to starting stablemate Butler Cabin in the near future.

“Butler Cabin, I think he's a bit more of a distance horse,” he said.

“I think he's got a bit more legs under him, but we'll see how he goes along.

“He's a bit of a different kettle of fish to the other mare. There is a race meeting here at Gympie later this month and I will be aiming them at those races.

“I’ll see how Not Happening goes in her higher class.”

Nolan also notes that he is a distant relative of Toowoomba trainer Michael G Nolan, who shares the same name.