WHAT A COMEBACK BY YELLOW BRICK!

By Graham Potter | Saturday, May 11, 2024

What a comeback by Yellow Brick!

A rousing run by the Tony and Maddysen Sears trained runner in the Listed Australian Turf Club Trophy over 1200m at the Sunshine Coast on May 11was just about as good a first-up run after a seven-month layoff as it could be.

Only a winning result would have bettered it, but when you take into account the fact that Yellow Brick had to lug 59.5kg from barrier eighteen on a heavy track ... and was held wide throughout yet was still only beaten into second place by 0.20 lengths at the line by a runner (At Witz End) who carried 6.5kg less than him ... well, it one sense that is akin to a win for the Yellow Brick
connections who ultimately were just wanting to see that all was well after his lengthy layoff from racing.

Six months ago, Yellow Brick was one of the rising stars in the Queensland racing ranks.

Then he went to the Silver Eagle where optimistic dreams turned into a dark nightmare.

The ride in the Silver Eagle did not follow the plan set out by the Sears camp and Yellow Brick was a spent force long before the finish.

Deflation at the result turned to concern for Yellow Brick post-race and, while there was nothing seriously wrong with him after his unfortunate gut-buster of a run, Tony and Maddysen Sears wisely decided to not be tempted to go on to the Golden Eagle, but decided instead to send Yellow Brick to the paddock for some down-time.

The fact that break away from race action stretched to seven months had plenty of positives with co-trainer Maddy Sears welcoming Yellow Brick back as a ‘bigger and stronger’ horse ... but the first run back after what really was initially deemed to be an enforced break always comes with a question mark behind it, whatever the hopes or expectations.

Which is why his positive return was so satisfying.

Going into The Silver Eagle last October Yellow Brick had a race record of six wins and four second places from his eleven starts.

Wins included the Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas and The King Of The Mountain, but his runner-up results were arguably even more telling, each one pointing to Yellow Brick’s way above average ability.

The second place results were a dashing (arguablyhard luck) finish in the $2 million Magic Millions Three-year-Old Guineas ... a close-up second place in the Group 3 Fred Best behind Hawaii Five Oh (who would go on to run in The Everest) ... and he was also just touched off twice in the Group 3 Gunsynd and the Listed Weetwood.

As disappointing as some of those beaten runs might have been for connections ... being so close, but no cigar ... that still translated into strong form ... very strong ... and the future looked bright.

But then it all went pear-shaped with that sad Silver Eagle experience.

As mentioned, Yellow Brick did not advance his winning record at the Sunshine Coast, but the result did translate into a huge return for the Yellow Brick team after that serious setback.

Whether Yellow Brick can ride the wave and return to ... and maintain ... the onward and upward path that he was on before remains to be seen, but for now at least, his connections will welcome the fact that it is ‘all good’ with Yellow Brick ... to the degree that, in the best case scenario, it could be a case of, ‘Stradbroke here we come.’

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