Racing industry mourning the loss of Darling Downs icon

By Jordan Gerrans

If not for Paul Nolan Snr’s planning and foresight all those decades ago, the now famous racing name from the Darling Downs in Queensland may have remained milking cows.

The former trainer laid the groundwork for his siblings and children to build a racing dynasty in the Sunshine State.

Paul Snr sadly passed away early on Sunday morning.

He was 86 years of age.

The Nolan name is synonymous with racing and breeding in Queensland.

Paul Snr’s younger brother Basil says he can trace the clan’s involvement in the industry back to a decision made by his late brother.

Basil now operates Raheen Stud near Warwick, which is regarded as one of Queensland’s longest established nurseries, having been founded in 1957.

“Paul was the one that started Raheen, to be quite honest,” Basil recalled.

“He and my mother were the keen ones who wanted to start it – he was the first one that wanted to get into the racing industry.

“Paul was the one that was always keen on it as we were dairy farmers before that. He instigated it all.”

From that decision with Paul Snr and his mother Rita, it got the ball rolling for generations of involvement in the sport.

Paul Snr and wife Sue were married for more than 60 years and had seven children - Marg, Peter, Michael, Donna, Cathy, Paul Jnr and Dan - who all touched racing through their lives.

“He had a wonderful 86 years,” Michael said.

Basil is a revered figure in breeding circles while Paul Snr’s sons Michael and Paul Jnr prepare their own team of gallopers on the Darling Downs.

“He was a great family man with a big family,” Basil said.

“He was a very good husband and father to them all.”

Basil is the Thoroughbred Breeders Queensland Association President. 

While Basil eventually ran Raheen Stud and Paul Snr more so focused on his own team of gallopers, he still dabbled in his breeding and kept a keen interest in it.

Paul Jnr said the entire family received a great deal of joy from racing with most of the family heavily involved at stages.

“He was firm but fair,” Paul Jnr said of his late father.

“He was very loyal to his friends and family – he always had our back.

“He was a very good horseman who grew up in the Depression era where your horse was everything, your mode of transport and how you ploughed your paddocks.

“He was an old-school horseman with how he could heal up cuts and all sorts of things with horses.”

As brother Basil notes, Paul Snr was a successful sheep and cattle farmer before taking the step into training gallopers.

“When he got married, he moved to Dalby on a wheat farm but he always wanted to dabble in racing,” Basil said.

“He wanted to be a horse trainer and that is how it ended up.

“He didn’t have a lot of horses but he always found a good horse and had quite a bit of success as a trainer.

“They never cost a heap of money either, he didn’t buy the cream of the crop but he always found a horse who could gallop – which is hard to do.”

Paul Snr took great pride in preparing a small and select team of horses.

He only ever had four in work and as one of his current trainer sons says, he was a master horseman.

“He taught Michael and I everything we know,” Paul Jnr said.

Paul Snr kept a close eye on a horse's coat and several other of their characteristics to determine how they were travelling ahead of their upcoming assignments.

While he only ever prepared a quartet of runners at a time, he enjoyed immense success.

He won multiple Group and Listed races with Paul’s Folly, who Paul Jnr says is the best horse his late father ever put a bridle on.

Paul’s Folly won 15 races and almost $500,000 in career earnings during the late 1990s and early 2000s, which was a significant prizemoney tally for those days.

The gelding claimed a Group 3 Ipswich Cup, Bernborough and Brisbane Handicaps at Listed level as well as other feature events.  

Paul Jnr recalls on one occasion a young Tony Gollan strapped for the stable at Caloundra when his late father couldn’t get to the races.

The family were chuffed to receive condolences from the champion Brisbane trainer who spent time with Paul Snr in his early days around Clifford Park.

As well as Paul’s Folly, Narwong, Rodway Sea and Fantastic Blue, among others, were other top gallopers Paul Snr prepared.

Paul Jnr had just finished working his horses on Monday morning when he reflected on his late father’s life.

The enormity of his training feats were obvious to his son.

“I have a team of 10 horses now and I cannot get near the success he had with four,” Paul Jnr said.

“It is amazing that all he ever had at one time was four horses. At one time, he had Paul’s Folly, Narwong and Rodway Sea – they were all open company horses in town.

“It was an amazing thing when you look back on it as I would give my right arm to have any one of those horses right now in my stable.

“There wouldn’t be many trainers who had that kind of strike-rate with such a small team. He loved only ever having four in work because he was so hands-on.”

According to Racing Australia’s records, Fantastic Blue was the last horse Nolan Snr started in a race back in March of 2014.

Just a couple of years prior, Fantastic Blue delivered another black-type triumph for the stable when the gelding won the Group 3 Premier’s Cup at Doomben in May of 2012.

With a string of black-type features on his resume when he did finish up in 2014, it all started with a trio of horses when the family left Warwick back in 1988.

Michael says a horse named Private Company was key to the family's growth in Toowoomba as he won a few on the bounce and put their stable on the map.

“Dad was a terrific help to me in those early days because I wouldn’t have moved to Toowoomba, it was his decision to move and buy here,” Michael said.

“Toowoomba and Clifford Park have now become our home and what it has turned into, the business, friendships and all of it – I am quite proud of it. We own property here and stayed on.”

The Nolan family are in the process of organising funeral details for Paul Nolan Snr.

Paul Nolan Snr is survived by his wife Sue, children Marg, Peter, Michael, Donna, Cathy, Paul Jnr and Dan as well as a large number of grand and great-grandchildren.

Racing Queensland extends its condolences to the Nolan family.