More than a week later, Tony and Maddysen Sears still have the feeling of what could have been after Yellow Brick filled their family-run stable with pride with his fast finishing second placing in the Stradbroke Handicap.
The truth is, Tony is still getting over it but with Brisbane’s greatest handicap now behind them, their flagship galloper is in the middle of a two-week break before coming back towards one of Sydney’s best handicaps, Group 1 The Epsom, that they have their sights on this spring.
A couple of trials and then a start first-up in the Group 3 Show County Quality (1200m) at Randwick has been pencilled in for August 23.
In two outings during the Queensland Racing Carnival, racing closer to the lead may have been the five-year-old’s undoing in the Group 3 BRC Sprint (1350m) finishing outside of the placings on May 24, but settling off the pace and rattling home to finish less than a length from the well-fancied War Machine in the Group 1 1400-metre Stradbroke on June 14 has Tony feeling that the gelding can raise the stakes again.
“We own him so we don’t have to race him much,” Tony said.
“We put the work into him at home and we know what we need to do to have him ready.
“He’s a strong horse and he came through the Stradbroke well.”
Sears added that they had the belief in Yellow Brick towards the Stradbroke in which he started as a $41 chance and posted a Racing and Sports ratings performance of 119 – one pound lower than War Machine’s mark of 120.
For perspective, the average winners’ rating of The Epsom in the past seven editions is around 117.
Third-placed behind Yellow Brick in the Stradbroke, Private Eye finished second in the 2021 Stradbroke Handicap before going on to with the Epsom five months later.
In current markets, Yellow Brick is rated a $51 chance for The Epsom with the Chris Waller-trained Autumn Glow the $3.50 favourite.
Yellow Brick was purchased by the Sears’ for $20,000 at the 2021 Gold Coast National Yearling Sale in conjunction with bloodstock expert Paul Moroney and has amassed just shy of $2.2 million in prizemoney in eight wins and nine placings in 22 starts.
