THE SEARS CAMP. LOOKING BACK ON FOND MEMORIES AND LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FUTURE

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Where did those two years go?

The Tony and Maddysen Sears Training Partnership has been in existence for just over two years now.

The partnership has already landed one Trainer’s Premiership (the 2020/21 Ipswich Trainer’s Premiership – which is believed to make them the first Father/Daughter Trainer’s Premiership winners in Australia) and a really steady supply of winners of which any stable would be proud.

In a training partnership though, nominated highlights from the last two years can differ from co-trainer to co-trainer … and that, at least in part, is the case in the Sears camp.

“For me personally … while there was nothing big in what she won … a horse called Special Thing was the first horse I had as a trainer,” continued Maddysen. “When we got her, she was a rating fifty-one or something like that and we got her to win two metropolitan races in a row.

“She was the first horse I took to the races, my first winner … all that sort of stuff … so she was very special to me. We’ve got a lot of decent horses, but that’s the one that stands out to me the most on a personal level.

“The most memorable individual win … probably when Exondabeach won in town,” continued Maddysen. “Wouldn’t you say so, dad?”

“I suppose,” replied Tony, in his usual understated way.
“Most winners are special,” continued Tony, expanding the point. “We had five winners in one day once. That was memorable.

“It was in the middle of Covid restrictions at the track when we were all put into different sections, or zones, and we had six runners on that particular day and won five races.”

“That was a great day,” agreed Maddysen.

One of the main factors that drives any stables success is how well they place their horses … and the Sears yard has a great record in that regard.

“We have help from other people in doing that,” acknowledged Tony. “Gino Loiero has got a lot of horses with our stable. He spends a lot of time with us discussing where we can best place our horses, which really helps us a lot in weighing up our options and making good decisions.

“We have a very good ownership group locally and very good clients overseas, which also really helps matters. A lot of them have been with us for a long time and, both those clients based locally and overseas are all very good to deal with … and so are those new people who we basically have coming in all of the time. Yeah, we are very fortunate to have a very good ownership group.”

That goodwill between trainer and owner is obviously a two-way street.

“Communication is important,” emphasised Tony. “I think if you are placing the horses in the right places and letting their owners know what you are doing with their horses and why … then everybody is on the same page.

“You have to be open and honest with them … and that sometimes includes having to tell them things that they were not hoping to hear … like telling them their horse is not good enough and they probably have to move it on.

“If they are not going to make the grade, you have to move them on. You can’t get away from it and any stable needs owners who understand that is part of the game.

“We’ve got those owners. We have decent horses. We have regular winners. We work well together, so, yeah, we can’t complain about what the stable has achieved over the first two years of our partnership.

“It’s looking good moving forward.”

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