MAYA BAY SHOWS RENEWED VIGOUR TO WIN FIRST-UP

By Graham Potter | Saturday, May 25, 2024

If your horse is going to be beaten, they say second place is better than third place ... but any ‘warmness’ in that consolation prize tends to cool off over time. In fact, if the second places start to pile up without a win, any trainer would be forgiven for thinking that he or she is not in the good books of the Racing Gods.

But, by showing patience and perseverance and trusting in their established procedures, most trainers will tell you the wheel does turn and a semblance, at least, of good times will return.

Co-trainers Tony and Maddysen Sears know all about that.

Between The Gambling Greek’s win on May 8 and Maya Bay’s first-up success on May 25, the Sears team saddled twenty-eight starters for a return of no less than eight runner-up finishes ... including Poetic Drama’s second place in the Listed Silk Stocking and Yellow Brick’s second place in the Listed ATC Cup.

Maya Bay, a six-year-old, chestnut gelding, was the horse that put the Sears camp back in winning form, taking out a BM70 Handicap over1100m at Toowoomba on May 25.

Something of a veteran going into this, her thirty-sixth start, Maya Bay showed renewed vigour first-up after a five-and-a-half month break away from racing, to get the better of the $2.70 favourite Upstart Legend by 0.30 lengths.

Maya Bay ($6.50) has to deal with the disadvantage of the extreme outside draw (ten out of ten) and Alisha Donald was forced to settle in midfield, trapped three wide until passing the 650m mark, where Donald started to urge her mount forward and Maya Bay quickly made up ground as he chased up to be close to the lead approaching the home turn.

Shortly after straightening, Maya Bay was up into second place, with only Upstart Legens standing in his path to victory.

It became a race in two but, although Upstart Legend tested Maya Bay all the way to the line, it was the Sears trained runner who went to the line the better of the two to score by a 0.30 length margin to claim the sixth win of his career.

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