SURGING TO VICTORY ON A WAVE OF EMOTION

By Graham Potter | Saturday, February 19, 2022

If you heard the scream from the grandstand there was no cause for alarm … it was just a member of the Sears Training Partnership letting out all of the joyful emotion that comes with landing a special win.

It was Red Wave scoring his second career win in a QTIS Three-Year-Old Handicap over 1600m at the Sunshine Coast on February 19 that caused the flurry of extreme excitement … not just by winning, but in the manner in which the son of Red Dazzler pounced from well off the speed to get up in a driving finish to win by half-a-length.

Red Wave ($8.50) jumped well enough, but was caught wide and Andrew Mallyon eased his mount back to race dead set in midfield in the early part, in sixth place some four lengths off the leader. When he still couldn’t get in, Mallyon encouraged Red Wave to move with more intent and he was quickly up to fourth spot for a while and then back to fifth in the sweep to the turn as Mallyon kept biding his time, waiting to make his move.

Six lengths seemed like a lot for Red Wave to try and make up when the field straightened and, in truth, even halfway up the straight few would have argued against the point that Red Wave’s cause looked lost at that stage.

Approaching the 200m mark, the $3.10 favourite Canadian Dancer had been produced on cue to take the measure of the pace-setter Pentito ($4.80) and Military Gambler ($10) was next best and running on with Mallyon now getting Red Wave to knuckle down to his task, but still with plenty to do.

When Red Wave got the message though, his finishing effort was relentless. He was four lengths back at the 200m mark and he had halved that margin coming through the 100m.and he had the momentum to finish over the top of Military Gambler (who edged Canadian Dancer out of second place second late) and Canadian Dancer to land an inch perfect victory.

“That’s the happiest I’ve been after a horse has won in two years,” said Maddy Sears.

“I can genuinely say that. I have put my heart and soul into Red Wave. He is the only horse that dad has given me free rein with. I do everything myself.

“One word that describes the win is proud. I was very proud of my efforts and very, very proud of him.

“About the 400m I was thinking to myself, ‘any minute now mate … you might want to get going’ … and then, as soon as Andrew told him to go, he just let fly. I think, if the straight was any longer he would have won by further and they ran just over a second faster than the Class 6 mile, so it was a really good effort.”

And Red Wave’s family connections also helped spark the raw emotion … Red Wave being a half-brother to Exondabeach, a horse that the Sears camp lost far too early in sad circumstances.

“Red Wave is a half-brother to a very special filly of mine, Exondabeach … that is also why I was so emotional after the race.

“It was two years since Exondabeach won in town (on February 15, 2020), so he is following his sister. It was a very special win all around.

“I’ve also got to thank dad. He has stepped back quite a lot and given me more responsibility. He has handed a lot of the reins over to myself.

“I can still feel the weight on my shoulder of his head peeping over though,” joked Sears. “but it’s all good.”

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