Premier Brisbane trainer Tony Gollan celebrated one hundred and a half winners for the season at Doomben on Saturday with the stable’s promising filly The Actuary showing a brilliant late burst of speed to win The Phoenix 2020.

Last year’s The Phoenix winner Shadow Hero went on to win two Group 1 races including the Randwick Guineas. Photo: Steve Hart.

The sole Black-Type on the Doomben card as the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival continued, the $125,000 Listed The Phoenix (1615m) saw a host of untapped two-year-olds face off over the mile on a testing Heavy (8) track.

Ridden beautifully by apprentice Baylee Nothdurft, Gollan’s nicely-bred Sebring filly The Actuary had her first run on a rain affected course and looked to relish the conditions.

With form around the brilliant Away Game during the summer, The Actuary was up in class for The Phoenix having only broken her maiden status at the Doomben track on June 3 over 1350m.

She improved wonderfully off that and had no issues stepping up in distance over a mile, but still looked a little green late in a weaving run to the line.

Away well from the gates the filly settled for Nothdurft in the second half of the pack giving her hoop a nice trail into the race as a fired-up Spicy Restaurant led the field around.

The early leader cornered in front before being tackled over the final furlong by a fast-finishing The Actuary who took over late and won running away from the Ciaron Maher & David Eustace-trained Toscanini.

Still a maiden then after seven starts, Fastnet Rock colt Toscanini had the outside alley in The Phoenix and raced three wide the entire trip.

Also wide throughout was the beaten Paul Messara-trained Outburst, the Real Impact gelding snaring third in a photo finish over Desleigh Forster’s promising Sebring filly See Marie who did everything wrong before winding up late to come from last to fourth.

Gollan confirmed plans to give The Actuary a break now ahead of a spring return with the filly looking in for a big next-up season in tougher company.

“Fantastic to get a stakes win with this filly, she’s very well bred we wanted to knock over some Black Type for her as a two-year-old and very satisfying to reward the owners who pour a lot of money into out yearlings,” he told the media post-win.

“One hundred winners for the season is a great milestone one that should be celebrated by all our staff from foreman Craig Cavanough down everyone does their bit to make our big team work and hopefully we can notch up a few more.

“A huge thanks to all our riders as well, Baylee (Nothdurft) today was exceptional I wasn’t sure where he was going to go at the top of the straight there but he knew what he was doing.

“When we brought her back we were always aiming at this race, very comfortable to tip her out now and bring her back next campaign as a three-year-old.”

The Actuary was the first filly to beat home the boys in The Phoenix since the Anthony Cummings-trained Fontelina in 2011 when the race was run over 1350m.

Last year’s The Phoenix form meanwhile was franked with the winner Shadow Hero going on to win the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick that October and the Group 1 Randwick Guineas (1600m) in Sydney this March.

2020 The Phoenix Results & Finishing Order

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	9	THE ACTUARY	Tony Gollan	Baylee Nothdurft (a)		1	55kg		$4.80
	2	6	TOSCANINI	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Robbie Fradd	1.25L	10	57kg		$10
	3	3	OUTBURST	Paul Messara	Brad Stewart	1.65L	5	57kg		$4.60
	4	8	SEE MARIE	Desleigh Forster	Taylor Marshall	1.75L	4	55kg		$5
	5	7	COSMIC GOSSIP	Stuart Kendrick	James Orman	1.95L	7	55kg		$4F
	6	2	SPICY RESTAURANT	Danielle Seib	Larry Cassidy	2.15L	9	57kg		$26
	7	1	WAY BEYOND	Stuart Kendrick	Jake Bayliss	3.15L	8	57kg		$15
	8	5	KEFALONIA	Chris Munce	Justin Huxtable (a)	5.9L	3	57kg		$17
	9	4	CONCILLIUM	Geoff Burns	Mark Du Plessis	6.1L	2	57kg		$31
	10	10	HAZ DE BEE	Joe Gleeson	Jim Byrne	21.1L	6	55kg		$61

*Table Credit: Racing Australia.