The Tony and Maddysen Sears trained two-year-old colt Steady Ready, who finished second in the Listed Dalrello Stakes at Eagle Farm on Saturday, will now be sent for a spell.
The very smart son of Better Than Ready was a beaten favourite at $2.20 in the Dalrello, but he lost no supporters with a very game run to finish within a quarter of a length of the very well performed and more experienced Exo Lady ($14), who got the jump on the field at the break and then produced a sustained run to the line to keep Steady Ready at bay.
“We were really very happy with the run,” said Maddy Sears. “I think he was just a little bit green today.” (It was only Steady Ready’s second start).
“He was a little bit slow away and couldn’t really muster like Exo Lady did. He’s never had a horse in front of him before. Also, when you watch the head-on, when Luke (Tarrant) pulled the stick on him (which has never happened before) he was running away from it.
“I think, if he had run straight, he would have gone close to winning … and that is not taking anything away from the winner who was very good and strong to the line.
“Steady Ready’s last 100m was very, very slick. As inexperienced as he is, he could have put the white flag up halfway up the straight and said this is too much pressure for me, but he kept coming.
“All things considered are we happy with the run and we are also very happy with the way he has pulled up. He has pulled up well.
“He is going to the paddock now. We are going to tip him out. He has been in work for a substantial amount of time. He is booked in to go down to Universal Stables on Tuesday, so he’ll have a nice break … a well-deserved break actually.
“We’ll tip him out. He’ll have probably six to eight weeks in the paddock and then we’ll bring him back in and get him ready.
“Ninety-nine percent of our horses go down to Phil Bobic at Universal stables. They do the most phenomenal job. They pre-train all of our horses … so we do owe credit to them with all of our horses.
“We think we are going to have an even bigger and better horse next time in.”
