Beau to dazzle Kiwis
Sears takes green colt home for Karaka Million mission
Tony Sears is now as Queensland as XXXX beer but is heading to his birth country of New Zealand to try to pinch some Kiwi cash in a mystery mission with talented youngster Beau Dazzler in the $1m Karaka Million 2YO on Saturday.
The veteran horseman (inset), who trains in partnership with daughter Maddysen, was born in NZ’s North Island and was once a talented jockey apprenticed to Bruce Marsh.
Sears moved to Australia in 1981 to ride before he took up training in the early 1990s and is now a leading horseman in the Toowoomba region.
Despite his Kiwi heritage, Sears said he had never trained a runner in NZ before and can’t remember ever having been to Ellerslie Racecourse where the rich Karaka Millions meeting will be raced.
“Even though I’m from NZ I’ve never trained a runner there,” he said.
“It’s a bit of a learning thing this trip, I have never travelled a horse over there. To tell you the truth, I don’t think I have ever been to Ellerslie.
“I wouldn’t say I was a real good jockey back in the day, at least I can admit it.
“I have never bought horses at Karaka before, but we got four last year and Beau Dazzler was one of them.”
Beau Dazzler is already a Stakes winner, with the raw colt having beaten a small field to win the Listed Phelan Ready over 1000m at Eagle Farm in December.
He then raced at the Gold Coast Magic Millions carnival and finished second to the Ciaron Maher and Dave Eustace-trained colt Spywire in the $150,000 Gold Nugget, seven days before the Magic Millions 2YO Classic.
Sears said it was just about impossible to try to line up the form going into Saturday’s race in NZ, where Beau Dazzler will be ridden by Queensland hoop Robbie Dolan.
“I don’t really know about the (Karaka Million) form, it’s hard to get a handle on,” Sears said.
“With ours, I’m running a line through the fact that I think he is definitely a good city horse and I think he is capable of winning something decent during the Queensland winter carnival.
“We are hoping that the Magic Millions form stacks up pretty good with our colt. “He was probably about 80 per cent wound up when he last raced, he had a bit of improvement in him.”
Beau Dazzler, although still fairly green, has come a long way since making his debut in Toowoomba last November.
On that occasion, he was “terrified” and “jumped at the lights” when having his first race start, leading to a successful push to ban night racing for young two-year-olds.
“He is still a bit green, but his attitude is getting better,” Sears said.
“The more runs he has, the better he is going to be.
“He has handled the trip to NZ very well, no problem at all.
“I am positive he will run well on Saturday.”
After Saturday’s race, Beau Dazzler will spell for a month at the famous Waikato Stud in NZ.
Then it will most likely be onwards and upwards to a Queensland winter carnival campaign, which could culminate in the Group 1 JJ Atkins.
The “sold out” sign is already up at Ellerslie on Saturday with 12,000 tickets sold for the rich meeting, which doubles as the official opening of their new StrathAyr track.