Gollan eyes repeat effort from Pembrey for Furious challenge

Premier Queensland trainer Tony Gollan says all signs point to Pembrey repeating, or improving on, her slick Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) win when she takes on a stronger field in the Furious Stakes (1200m) on Saturday.

The Kia Ora-owned talent made a statement in the opening leg of the Princess Series for three-year-old fillies two weeks ago at Randwick, overcoming a draw in nine of 10 to work to the lead under James McDonald before kicking clear for a two and a half-length victory in an impressive time of 1:08.74 on a soft 5 track.

Pembrey was a $2.15 favourite for the Furious at Randwick, where she will meet resuming Riesling Stakes winner and last year’s Golden Slipper favourite Chayan ($8) and Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou-prepared Rosebud victor Chilly Girl ($3.40). McDonald will ride $5.6 million Coolmore buy Chayan, from the Annabel and Rob Archibald yard, opening the door for Tommy Berry to take over on Pembrey.

Gollan’s Magic Night Stakes winner has stayed at Randwick between runs under the care of Peter Snowden and the reports were encouraging.

“She obviously settled in well at Randwick before the last race and she appears to have come through that run really well.

“She doesn’t appear to have gone backwards, that’s for sure, so I’m hoping to see what we saw a couple of weeks ago, if not with a touch of improvement.

“There’s the addition of a couple of new bits of blood there in Gerald’s horse and Annabel’s, and the rest are pretty much the same bunch.”

Gollan was unfazed by the change of jockey and hoped Pembrey could again make her own luck on speed, this time from gate seven of 10.

“[Chayan] wasn’t there for the first race, so we were able to use James for that,” Gollan said.

“Tommy’s a good bloke and we get along really well, and he’s ridden her a couple of times in gallops at Randwick, so it’s good to have him aboard. He hasn’t ridden her in race conditions, but she’s pretty straightforward.”

Pembrey loomed as an outside chance for an Everest slot with the first-up win but Gollan remained focused on how far she could progress through the Princess Series.

“I’m not going to buy into that, we are just worried about Saturday,” he said.

“My plan was always races one and two, and see how we’ve gone, so we’ll get through the Furious and see where we get to after that.”

Gollan was looking beyond Saturday with Transatlantic ($9), which resumes in the group 2 Tramway Stakes (1400m).