Maddysen Sears recently helped to throw her dad Tony a surprise 60th birthday party, but it would be no surprise to either if rising star Yellow Brick storms into the Stradbroke Handicap field.
Yellow Brick is the rags to riches tale of Queensland racing, the bargain basement buy who cost just $20,000 and is now a million-dollar man.
The boom three-year-old races on Saturday to try to snatch a golden ticket into the Group 1 Stradbroke, needing to win the Group 3 Fred Best Classic at Eagle Farm to earn his Stradbroke spot.
Yellow Brick was an imposing winner of the Gold Coast Guineas when he resumed earlier this month, trapped three-wide yet still powering away for a sensational win.
The Fred Best is a last chance saloon race for Yellow Brick to get into next month’s Stradbroke where he currently sits on the third line of early betting at $8 in the prestigious Group 1.
Master Toowoomba horseman Tony Sears would be surprised if Yellow Brick doesn’t earn his Stradbroke stripes by winning the Fred Best on Saturday.
But Sears is taking a no fuss approach as everything goes on the line.
“You can’t be worrying about what’s going to be, and what is not going to be,” Sears, who co-trains with daughter Maddysen, said.
“There is no use panicking and worrying about if you are going to get in (the Stradbroke) or not.
“We’ve got the horse where we want him, he’s in the right race.
“If he wins, yes he’s in the Stradbroke, and that’s what we are trying to achieve.
“If he doesn’t win, we are going to have to go to Plan B and we don’t even know what that is.
“You have just got to go there and hopefully he runs up to expectations and he gets in.
“I would be very disappointed if we don’t get in the Stradbroke, but that’s the way it goes.
“I feel if our horse was going to get beaten, it would have been in the Guineas.
“The Guineas might not have suited him at 1200(m), the Fred Best is going to suit him right down to the ground going to 1400(m).
“When he was young, he had a very small injury in the back leg and that’s why we were able to get him so cheap.”
Yellow Brick, storming to victory under jockey Ben Thompson in the Gold Coast Guineas, can win his way into the Stradbroke. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography
Veteran trainer Sears has had a lot of horses through his stable doors but says Yellow Brick is right up there with any he has put the polish on.
Yellow Brick has won six from eight and his record arguably could have been better, as the camp felt he was unlucky not to win the $2m Gold Coast Guineas in January when runner-up behind one of his Fred Best rivals, Fashion Legend.
So what makes Yellow Brick one of Queensland’s most exciting young horses in years?
What makes him so good?
Sears has a simple answer.
“He can gallop fast!” Sears quipped.
“He is a very laid-back horse who has got better and better every time he has back into the stables from a break.
“A lot of people ask why is he better now, but it’s simply as he has matured a lot.
“Mentally we have done a lot of work with him.
“Maddysen has taken him to the races and not raced him, just for the experience, trialled him in Brisbane and taken him to other places.”
Yellow Brick is one of Queensland’s most exciting horses. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography
Yellow Brick’s main rival in the Fred Best is the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Hawaii Five Oh, the colt owned by John Singleton who is also trying to snare a ticket into the Stradbroke.
Sears knows there is a lot of hype about Hawaii Five Oh but jokes that Singleton “has got enough money, he doesn’t need to win any more.”
The Sears’ were originally plotting a Group 1 Queensland Derby path with Yellow Brick but Tony has now revealed the reason for the change of heart to a Stradbroke blueprint.
Southeast Queensland racing identity, former jockey manager and racehorse owner Gino Loiero convinced the Sears camp that the Stradbroke should be the plan.
Loiero, who is a part-owner of Group 1 star and Kingsford-Smith Cup contender Eduardo, seemed to make a lot of sense.
“Gino Loiero said to Maddysen and I that we should have a go at the Stradbroke, Gino thought that Yellow Brick might be too brilliant to be a Derby horse,” Sears said.
“We went down the Derby track but after a while and after talking to Gino – who helps us quite a bit with our placement of horses – we changed direction.”
Yellow Brick and Hawaii Five Oh have come up with mid barriers draws in gates seven and nine respectively in the Fred Best.