A HUGE DAY OUT FOR TEAM SEARS AS YELLOW BRICK LIVES UP TO THE HYPE IN THE GOLD COAST GUINEAS

By Graham Potter | Sunday, May 7, 2023

This is a serious racehorse!

It wasn’t just the fact that the Tony and Maddysen Sears trained three-year-old Yellow Brick won the Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas at the Sunshine Coast on May 6 ... or the fact that this victory took Yellow Brick’s race record to six wins from only eight starts ... or the fact that his prize-money earnings currently stand at just over $1.2 million only seven months into his racing career ... but, rather, that ‘serious racehorse’ tag was rubber-stamped by pure performance and the professional manner in which Yellow Brick, buoyed by his superior talent, went about his business in getting a well deserved Guineas win on his resume.

Yellow Brick was first-up here after being away from race action since his arguably unlucky, narrow second place finish in the $2 million Magic Millions Three-Year-Old Guineas back in January. Amongst other things, the Gold Coast Guineas result highlighted just how well the Sears Training Partnership know their horse, because Yellow Brick was winning for the third time in four first-up runs ... a statistic which now includes wins in the $750 000 King Of The Mountain and the $200 000 Gold Coast Guineas.

It is no mean feat to have a horse primed first-up and ready to strike for a feature race assignment against strong company.

“We knew he had gone to a different level,” said co-trainer Maddy Sears. “He just keeps improving.

“He’s improved on last time in, which technically only his second proper preparation, so going to his third prep there was going to be that natural improvement, but he has gone beyond that.

“He is just so happy. He generally makes things easy for himself. He is relaxed behind the barriers. He is relaxed at the races. Everything is easy for him because he just loves being a racehorse.

‘He always gets a little bit hot going on the truck though ... no matter where you go, he gets a little bit hot ... whether you go ten minutes down the road to the farm or take him to the Sunshine Coast. It’s just another trait of his. It’s just him.”

So, with a track gallop in between races at Toowoomba, a trial win at Doomben, another jump-out and then two gallops in the week leading into race-day, Yellow Brick was indeed primed for action, but, if Yellow Brick was quite relaxed before the big race, the same could not be said for his co-trainers.

“We knew we had him where we wanted him, but the nerves came in heavily on race-day. I was very nervous and when I get very nervous I can get a bit quite hostile,” admitted Sears. “Even dad, before we saddled him ... he doesn’t really get nervous, but he said how nervous he was this time.

“Obviously the hype around Yellow Brick being the short-price favourite brings added pressure, and I suppose we actually really expected him to do what he did in the race ... so, as confident as we were, that expectation did bring pressure of its own.

“I was going to say we know his ability ... but, actually, I have got to change that and say we don’t know his ability. We don’t know how good he really is because he just keeps improving and just keeps giving and giving.”

The way the first half of the race panned out would not have settled the nerves at all.

The number nine barrier draw was never going to do Yellow Brick any favours, but his task was further complicated straight from the start with many of the runners drawn inside him pressing forward to sit on the speed, meaning that Ben Thompson was trapped three wide on Yellow Brick all the way down the back straight and throughout the sweep to the home turn.

On the plus side, with Yellow Brick travelling well, Thompson made sure that the Sears trained runner stayed in touch with the leaders and he was within two lengths of the lead, still three wide, in fourth place ... with a clear run in front of him ... as the field straightened for home.

Thompson was riding him Yellow Brick like he was the best horse in the race.

“I was very tense there at one stage,” said Sears. “I said to mum, he’s very wide and he has been wide the whole way.

“Coming to the turn, when I got a good look at him and could see him travelling ... I said to mum, ‘we’re home.'

“And dad’s thought process was the same. He also initially thought ‘oh no, we’re wide,’ but then also thought it was over when we hit the straight. Mum could hardly watch.

“I just got so excited watching Yellow Brick win. I get so involved in the excitement of the moment.

“It really is so rewarding. The horse has to do it, but we put in the hard work. We work really, really hard and days like this repays all of that hard work.

“Dad is leaving more and more to me, and I know he is proud of what I am doing. On Saturday, I think he showed how proud he really is.

“You know, its like I’ve been his apprentice,” continued Sears. “I always say I’ve got one of the greatest mentors ... who also happens to be my dad and who also happens to be my boss.

“He doesn’t always make things easy. I’ve had to learn the hard way with quite a few things, but that was the way to get me up to speed. We do have our moments but, luckily, we’ve got mum there as well. She’s the one inbetween. She’s the referee!

“Hopefully our results speak for themselves.”

And what is next for Yellow Brick?

“He’ll go to the Fred Best. Then hopefully he will head into the Stradbroke ... then he will have a little break ... freshen up ... and then, all going to plan, we’ll hopefully have him down south for the Golden Eagle,” explained Sears.

The Stradbroke is a $3 million and the Golden Eagle is a $10 million race and, while it obviously would be great to be involved in races with that level of prize-money, the financial return is not foremost in the mind of the Sears camp.

If it was, they could easily have accepted the latest in a long line of offers they have received to purchase Yellow Brick ... the last being a huge offer received just a couple of weeks ago ... and banked a substantial, guaranteed ‘no risk’ amount of money ... but that did not happen.

“Yellow Brick is not for sale,” said Sears emphatically.

“We’ve made the decision that the journey is greater than any monetary value that people have been offering.

“They have been offering some very large figures but, the way we look at it ... he could be a once in a lifetime horse so why give that away and let someone else enjoy it.”

And to her credit ... Maddy Sears wanted to have a last word, not on her family or on the positive power of Yellow Brick but, instead, to add her congratulations to fellow Toowoomba trainer Kevin Kemp who had won his first Group race with Russian Alliance earlier in the day in the Group 3, Ken Russell Memorial Classic.

“Honestly, I have never been so happy for another trainer to win a big race,” said Sears.

“Kempie is just such a genuine, decent person and (owner) Paul Reedy who invests so much money in racing with his ownership and his heavy, heavy sponsorships of all things racing, they deserved that win so much.

“It was just amazing. I was really happy for them.”

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