Horse Tales: Hinged - A new door opens

Losing his potential star Hinged was a bitter pill to swallow for Toowoomba trainer Michael Nolan.

By Glenn Davis

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

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.”

Nolan gave Hinged a short break before she ran second at her next start at the Sunshine Coast in mid-June before she strung three wins together at Ipswich and twice at Doomben.

“She had a short break after the Sunshine Coast run just to let her develop a little and she came back to win three straight,” Nolan said.

“She was a foolproof filly to train.”

Her Ipswich win over 1350m in July showed her versatility leading all the way on a heavy track while she sat off the speed to win both times at Doomben later that month.

Following the first of her Doomben wins over 1350m in July, Nolan stretched her out in distance for the first time over 1615m when she easily accounted for her opposition in a near three lengths win two weeks later.

That was her final run for Nolan before heading interstate and he has no doubt Hinged has the potential to make the grade in the best of company down south.

“I’m no longer her trainer, but if I still had her a race like the Queensland Oaks would be her target,” he said.

Since joining the Waller stable, Hinged has lived up to her early reputation in Queensland.

She started off with a below par run when she beat one runner home in the Listed Dulcify at Kembla Grange in September before earning a trip to Melbourne following her second in the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on October 2.

Unfortunately, she could only manage sixth behind the Team Hawkes-trained Yearning in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield in mid-October.

While Nolan will be closely following Hinged’s career with Waller, he’ll be waiting to see if Hue can open the door for another adventure.