Take two for Frespanol in Queensland

Former Sydney gelding Frespanol is ready to make a belated debut for Brisbane trainer Tony Gollan after recovering from a road accident on his way to his first planned Queensland start.

Frespanol was one of four Gollan-trained horses in a float that rolled down an embankment on the Bruce Highway on the trip from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast races on April 23.

“He was lucky as he just lost a bit of skin and we were able to get him to a vet’s hospital very quickly,” Gollan said.

“It was a big scare for us at the time but my staff and the rescue workers were terrific. Frespanol has had a good spell and he seems to have recovered completely.”

Frespanol will front up for his first start in 10 months in the in the Open Handicap (1200m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Formerly trained by Gai Waterhouse, Frespanol has won six races and $428,000 prize money but was a well beaten 19th in the Group Two Villiers at Randwick on December 12.

Gollan has a good idea of Frespanol’s ability as the gelding beat his mare Tornado Miss into second place in the Listed Spear Chief Stakes at Doomben in May last year.

“He has always shown the ability to be competitive in those lower grade feature races,” Gollan said.

“They sacked him as a Sydney horse and the owners sent him up to me for the winter. But as is history now those plans went a bit astray,” Gollan said.

“He has some good Sydney form but even so I was a bit surprised when he got 59.5kg on Saturday. But I suppose it is that time of the year and it isn’t the strongest open race.”

“Whether he measures up to the summer feature races we will have to see but if anything he has pleased me more than he had been in the lead-up to the accident.”

Fellow trainer Desleigh Forster has decided to wait with both her stars Cylinder Beach and Too Good To Refuse, who were nominated for the open handicap.

“They were not ready just yet so I didn’t accept with them. They are going to have a light summer so I will wait a couple of weeks before they resume,” she said.