SARAH'S SONNETS IS STEPPING UP A GEAR WITH EVERY STEP UP IN DISTANCE. THAT'S TWO-IN-A ROW NOW

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, February 10, 2026

The Tony and Maddysen Sears trained Sarah’s Sonnetts showed that she is now starting to find her way quite nicely in a progressive fashion when making it back-to-back wins with her success in a Class 1 and Maiden Plate over 2120m at Lismore on February 10.

The four-year-old daughter of Castelvecchio had shed her Maiden ticket at Gatton over 1600m in her previous starts and she had only raced on two occasions before that, finishing third on debut over 1200m and then fifth in her second start over 1260m.

While race fitness was kicking in as a plus factor, it was the step up in distance to that 1600m trip for her debut outing that clearly made a big difference, as it did once again with the even bigger step up to 2120m here, where she started as a $2.50 favourite on the back on her facile Maiden win.

Sarah’s Sonnets did have a market rival though in the form of the $3 chance Quick Shot and it was these two runners who fought out the finish, although they took vastly different routes before coming together over the closing stages.

Quick Shot went out to make every post a winning one while Ben Looker was content to keep Sarah’s Sonnets back some six lengths off the leader in the first half of the race.

At the 500m mark, in the sweep to the home turn, Looker decided that Sarah’s Sonnets had enjoyed enough ‘time off’ and he started to rally the Sears trained runner, slipping up three wide, making ground, so that when Sarah’s Sonnets cornered she was only three lengths off Quick Shot with the long-time leader firmly in her sights.

Inside the 200m that deficit was down to two lengths and closing, with Quality Miss ($4.80) also racing menacingly in-between the two main fancies … and it was only in the last 75m that Looker managed to edge Sarah’s Sonnets into the lead when it mattered most to snare the victory.

Sarah’s Sonnets, who did not race as a two-year-old or a three-year-old, has quickly been making up for lost time, striking twice in sixteen days to up her winning strike-rate to fifty percent from only four career starts.