A detailed spring campaign has already been set for the Stradbroke runner-up Yellow Brick by the Tony and Maddysen Sears training partnership.
“He’ll go to three races in Sydney,” said co-trainer Maddy Sears.
“He’ll go first to the Show County. Then he’ll have a trial … then into the Bill Ritchie and then to the Epsom. (The Show County is a Group 3 race over 1200m at Randwick on August 23. The Bill Ritchie is a Group 3 race over 1400m at Randwick on September 20 and The Epsom is a Group 1 race over 1600m at Randwick on October 4).
“I went through all of the data from the Epsom over the last six years and that is definitely the path that most of them have gone. Obviously, it is a way to go that works, so we’ll stick to that.
“He raced very well down there last year when we took him to the Five Diamonds, so we are happy to go there.” (On that 2024 trip Yellow Brick finished fourth in the $1 million Five Diamonds Prelude and third in the $2 million Five Diamonds).
Yellow Brick could not have raced or pulled up any better than he has following his sterling Stradbroke effort.
“He’s just the best, isn’t he? He never lets you down,” commented Maddy Sears.
“He pulled up outstanding. Yeah, he is really, really well. On Monday morning when I took him to the scales … it’s a bit of a walk to the scales down here at the Gold Coast … he was jumping in the air … and squealing … and playing.
“He actually didn’t lose a kilo in the run, crazy enough. He was very, very well.
“He’s just gone out for a two-week freshener now.”
Yellow Brick was something of a forgotten horse going into the Stradbroke, but the starting price of $41 was just shrugged off and roundly dismissed by the Sears camp as being well over the odds.
Unlike the majority of pundits and punters out there, Tony and Maddysen Sears kept the faith in their positive assessment of Yellow Brick’s inherent ability and never wavered from their belief that he would run a big race on the big day.
With Yellow Brick justifying that opinion in emphatic fashion in the Stradbroke, the Sears camp can warm themselves with a very good memory of the day as they manage Yellow Brick through the winter before launching their star performer into a spring campaign which, all things being equal, should see him test his mettle against the best.
Yellow Brick is an eight-time winner with nine minor placings on his record from twenty-two starts. A $20,000 purchase, Yellow Brick currently has banked $2,484,350 in prize-money.
As far as a return on investment is concerned, it doesn’t get much better than that.
