THE TONY AND MADDYSEN SEARS TRAINING PARNERSHIP UPDATE - MARIA CLARA STEALS THE SHOW

By Graham Potter | Sunday, August 23, 2026

The Tony and Maddysen Sears trained Geitz took the step every trainer likes to see when she followed up her Maiden win over 1000m at the Gold Coast with a second successive success in a Fillies and Mares Class 1 Handicap over 1200m at Doomben on August 5 when going up in class, moving from a provincial to a metro meeting and going up in distance … steps which ticked a lot of boxes.

Not that many people saw it coming though with the daughter of Better Than Ready winning at a starting price of $21. The four-year-old had jumped at a starting price of $8.50 in her Maiden win so she is proving to be a value horse to follow.

Geitz was very slow away and within a little over one hundred meters from the start she was last and already all of eight lengths off the leader. Jockey Mark Du Plessis’s experience immediately kicked in to good effect though as he allowed Geitz to find her feet and get into a comfortable galloping rhythm in her own time.

Geitz was still in last place as the field turned for home, with the Sears trained runner, having tracked wider in the approach to the home turn, now all of six wide with six lengths to make up, but now with a clear path to the finish … and he responded well to Du Plessis’s urgings, making up ground steadily in the first half of the straight, all the while building the kind of strong momentum which carried her into the lead with 75m left to run.

To get there from where she initially launched her run was a very good effort, a fitting enough performance to put Team Sears’ first win for the season on the scoreboard.

This latest win took Geitz past the $100 000 prize-money mark.
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The Gold Coast Poly-track is not everybody’s cup of tea, but a win is a win and it certainly appeared to bring something out of the five-year-old gelding Hang Out that had been missing, in quite a big way, in his two previous starts in which he finished 12.03 and 9.45 lengths behind the winner.

It was not surprising then that the son of Alabama Success jumped at double figure odds ($15) in this Band 0-58 contest over 1540m on August 15 with apprentice Jade Hampson in the saddle.

In a fairly hectic start, with chases quickly up to the first turn, Hang Out was caught four wide and Hampson decided to press forward which he did to good effect, finding the lead at the 800m, from where he took the field down the back straight and all of the way through the sweep to the home turn without having anyone close enough to him to apply pressure.

The pressure did come on straightening though.

Constant Café ($7) was the first to try and reel in the Sears trained runner, but she could not get to Hang Out … and then Kharif, the $4.80 second favourite, emerged out of the pack, chasing hard and looking like he would make a real race of it … but, again, Hang Out never flinched and he held Kharif with a sustained run that saw him salute by a margin of just under a length.
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Now this could be a good horse in the making.

The three-year-old filly Maria Clara has done very little wrong to date in her short four race career and she franked that potential in no uncertain terms with an eye-catching come from behind win in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Handicap over 1200m at Doomben on August 22.

The daughter of Doubtland raced twice as a two-year-old, finishing third on debut over 1200m when only 0/91 lengths behind the winner, before becoming a winner herself in her second start in a QTIS Two-Year-Old Maiden Plate over 1000m at the Gold Coast.

Maria Clara has now duplicated that result pattern in her first two starts as a three-year-old, firstly finishing third, again when less than a length back, and then taking this August 22 assignment by storm to win more impressively than the 0.96 winning margin might suggest.

Maria Clara started at $6 (out from $4.80). Jumping from a relatively wide barrier draw, Mark Du Plessis gave himself time to weigh up the early options before settling Maria Clara in midfield, in sixth place, four lengths off the lead, happy to track a path out three wide on the track.

Little changed in the sweep to the home turn where Maria Clara straightened as the widest runner, still with a little over four lengths to make up.

Du Plessis was still patient in the saddle … that is until just inside the 200m mark where he got busy and Maria Clara got going, reeling in the runners in front of her to hit the front with just 50m left to run, before ultimately getting home with a perfectly timed run to claim her second career victory.

It was a solid performance by a lightly raced horse still learning her trade.

She has only had four starts so there is still a lot to find out about this filly.

Fair to say … the signs are very promising.

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