Tony & Maddysen Sears had to wait a couple more days but the win was worth it as their stable star Yellow Brick won The Archer at Rockhampton.
Initially supposed to be run on Sunday, the $1 million slot race was postponed due to issues with sections of the home straight – large portions around the 200m, 150m and 80m marks presented as heavy while the rest of the track was a good surface.
Jockey Tommy Berry was still available to ride at the postponed meeting and kept the $3.40 favourite out of trouble around the home bend, giving the Group 1 placegetter plenty of room in the long Rockhampton straight.
Local chance Cherry Rose gave a strong kick at the 300m mark but class prevailed, Yellow Brick going on to score by a length over Anemacore ($19) with a head back to Boomtown Boss ($10) in third.
Maddysen Sears, who trains in partnership with her father, said it was an emotional win for her family with their banner horse, who took his earnings over $3.7 million with his 10th career win.
“It’s just really special,” Sears said.
“My grandma’s here to watch, all my family come out to do it.
“We brought the right horse up and someone told me a couple of days before, a very good trainer in Melbourne said he’s going to win for fun and he did.
“He’s the pivotal horse for my career. Anyone that knows me, knows my family, this horse is this horse is so special.”
Berry said he always felt confident in the run, paying thanks to a certain leading jockey for the ride aboard Yellow Brick.
“They just wanted me to make sure I got room,” Berry said of the instructions.
“He’s a big horse and he takes a little bit of winding up, but it was a good effort today. Because he was first up and he was a little bit keen in the run and being on the fresh side.
“Great effort by the team to get him ready, to get him ready twice too for today. It was worth coming back for, for the second time.
“He’s definitely got a good carnival ahead. They’ve got some nice races mapped out for him. Thanks to James McDonald, he’s the one who got me up here, so I’ll try and keep it, and you can ride something else from now on, that’d be nice.”
