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Horse Tales: Hinged - A new door opens

3 minute read

Michael Nolan is a realist and knows the racing caper is full of twists and turns and when one door closes another often opens.

Michael Nolan has been training at Toowoomba most of his life and has experienced the good and bad times during his 32-year training career in the city of flowers.

Nolan put the early polish on Hinged when the daughter of Worthy Cause won five of her first seven starts before a southern syndicate, including prominent owner Brae Sokolski, made an offer to buy her off owner/breeder Kim McCasker.

Worthy Cause stands at Clear Mountain stud and is a son of champion sire Choisir who won the Group 1 Golden Jubilee at Royal Ascot and the Group 1 VRC Lightning at Flemington.

Worthy Cause was a tough racehorse himself, winning up to Group 3 level in Brisbane while Hinged's mother Tints won 12 times in 47 starts.

McCasker has been a long-time supporter of Nolan ever since the pair struck success with former star sprinter Laurie's Lottery in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 in 1999.

Hinged's sale was finalised not along after Sokolski also took a share in subsequent Caulfield Cup winner Incentivise who is now with Peter Moody after starting his career with fellow Toowoomba trainer Steve Tregea.

"I was disappointed to lose her but I've been in the racing game long enough to know it was a business decision to sell her," Nolan said.

"The good news is I've got her full sister, Hue, in the stable and she's coming along well."

Hinged's sale price has never been disclosed but McCasker retained a 10 per cent share in the three-year-old before she was transferred to champion Sydney trainer Chris Waller.

Apart from his Doomben 10,000 triumph, Nolan has struck success in many of the State's major features including three Listed Weetwood Handicaps with Miss Imagica (twice) and Jumbo Prince.

He believes the recent buys of Hinged and Incentivise has put Toowoomba back on the map as a racing and breeding centre.

"It's good for the local industry here to see Hinged and Incentivise go south and do so well and it's put Toowoomba back on the map," Nolan said.

"Toowoomba is on its way back as a training centre and our horses regularly go to Brisbane and win at the midweeks and on Saturdays.

"I started at Warwick but I've been at Toowoomba for 32 years and it's been very good to me."

Nolan has vivid memories of Hinged when he first spotted her.

"She came to me in September last year just for some early education," he said.

"I only knew her at the time as the black filly by Worthy Cause and she went out for a break after she was educated.

"When she came back into work a second time, she showed she was a quick learner but she was still a big rangy filly.

"Kim used to tell me she was a lot like her mother, Tints, and I thought she'd be better as a three-year-old."

However, appearances can be deceiving as Nolan always considered her to be different to his previous best horses.

"I've always thought she's a 2000m or more filly and it was quite astounding what she did early on as a two-year-old," Nolan said.

"If I still had her I'd probably be chasing QTIS races right now then be aiming for the summer races and eventually the Brisbane Winter Carnival."

Hinged made her debut on her home track at Toowoomba with a resounding near four-length win in January before making it two-from-two with a narrow win over 1200m at the Gold Coast two weeks later.

"I took her to Toowoomba for her first start which she won easily then she won at the Gold Coast before I took her to town for a race at Eagle Farm," Nolan said.

"She only just got beaten that day and that's when I knew we had something special to work with.

"She was very green then and she had some raceday smarts which cost her the race."


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