TOO EASY FOR POETIC DRAMA

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, February 22, 2023

It is a well-worn script, but one that works extremely well for the Tony and Maddysen Sears training partnership.

Welcoming a horse from a southern state into the stable and having it win first time out (or, at least in its first couple of runs) under the Sears Racing banner is a theme that has been repeated time and time again ... so it was no surprise when the chestnut mare Poetic Drama saluted in her first run for her new stable when taking out a Maiden Plate over 1400m at Eagle Farm on February 22.

The four-year-old had raced previously on sixteen occasions for Team Hawkes with the win escaping her during that time, although she did claim second spot on no less than six occasions.

One of those runner-up finishes came in Poetic Drama’s last run for the Hawkes stable (at Kembla Grange over 1400m) just two weeks prior to Poetic Drama’s debut for her new stable, and punters thought she was ready to improve on that result and supported her claims enough to see her start as the $2.70 favourite.

And they never had a moment of concern in the race itself.

Jockey Ben Thompson, who has quietly been forging a fantastic relationship with the Sears team, settled Poetic Drama in fifth then sixth spot, some three lengths off the lead in the early stages.

Thompson remained patient throughout the sweep to the home turn, happy to bide his time before angling the Sears runner out some four wide by the time the field straightened for home, thus ensuring Poetic Drama would have an uninterrupted run all the way to the line.

Once there, it all came down to Poetic Drama herself and whether she was good enough to make up the little over three lengths deficit she faced at the top of the straight ... a deficit she would have to cut back if that overdue first career win was to go into the record books.

Poetic Drama answered that call in emphatic fashion.
Once Thompson asked her to quicken, it quickly became clear that Poetic Drama was travelling better than any other runner and she duly swept past her rivals with ease.

In the end, she had so much in hand that, even when she wanted to run out over the final 100m, her victory was well enough secured with the final inning margin of 2.38 lengths arguably flattering the runner-up Time To Testify ($6).

The third placed runner, Jetpack Verdi (the $2.60 favourite) finished more than four lengths back.

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