Premier trainer Tony Gollan was confident he could start the summer carnival with a winner but admitted to having a case of nerves before it came to fruition.

The Gollan-trained Unlikely Story, the $2.45 favourite, was slow to jump and was third last on the fence.

But he was good enough to weave his way through the field to beat the leader Parko ($6) by a half neck in the Broncos Team Score Handicap (1200m) at Doomben.

The race as the first official event of the $15 million Queensland summer carnival that runs until January 12.

"I wouldn't want to go through that again. He is a pretty smart horse but he is a big fellow and seems to wander out of the barriers," Gollan said.

"But he will win in better company than this and I knew if he got some splits in the straight he would be hard to hold out."