GROUP 1 TARGET FOR UNLUCKY MAGIC MILLIONS RUNNER
YELLOW Brick was desperately unlucky as beaten favourite on Gold Coast Magic Millions day but there are now bumper Group 1 plans for one of Queensland’s most exciting horses.
Yellow Brick, co-trained by Tony Sears and daughter Maddysen, started the $2.70 favourite in the $2m Magic Millions Guineas but charged home to finish second after nothing went right.
Jockey Ben Thompson didn’t see clear air until late and had to make a final surge on the inside section of the Gold Coast track which wasn’t the place to be on the day.
But Maddysen Sears certainly isn’t blaming Thompson and Yellow Brick now has bigger fish to fry – a Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap assault during the winter carnival.
Yellow Brick won the inaugural $750,000 King Of The Mountain at Toowoomba over the 1200m sprint trip and the Stradbroke plan has now been formulated.
“We believe the Stradbroke is the way to go with him as he would get in very lightly weighted,” Maddysen Sears said.
“He is a fast frontrunning horse which is how the Stradbroke is normally run so we think it will suit him.
“The Queensland Derby was an option but the distance is an unknown and we know he can be very dangerous in the 1200m1600m range, so the Stradbroke seemed the best option.
“We are by no means blaming Ben (Thompson) whatsoever for what happened in the Guineas, he was just a victim of circumstances.”
Yellow Brick is all-female owned with Maddysen Sears one of the part-owners.
As such, the owners picked up a substantial booty for being the first all-female owned horse to cross the line in the rich Guineas.
Subject to continual offers from Hong Kong, Sears maintains the rising star horse is not for sale.
Yellow Brick, a $20,000 bargain buy, has won five from seven starts and amassed more than $1.1m in prizemoney.