’Serious horse’: Sinawann feels at home ahead of Eye Liner Stakes tilt at Ipswich

Not many horses have started their racing careers in Ireland and been a winner at Ipswich, but that’s what Sinawann is attempting on Saturday.

Sinawann will have his first run for Toowoomba trainers Tony and Maddysen Sears in the Listed Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich on Saturday. Picture: Racing Photos.

Sinawann started his racing career in Ireland and must have felt like he was back at his former overseas home when the temperature in Toowoomba plunged to one degree on Tuesday.

In 20 starts since arriving Down Under in 2021, Sinawann has only won one race in a stint which first saw him trained by Anthony and Sam Freedman in Victoria and then head to Joe Pride in NSW.

Now he has arrived in Queensland where he will make his stable debut for Toowoomba trainers Tony and Maddysen Sears in Saturday’s $200,000 Listed Eye Liner Stakes (1350m) at Ipswich.

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Tony Sears knows seven-year-old Sinawann has the talent to be force in the Sunshine State.

He just has to work out how to showcase it.

“If he could ever get back to his right form, he is a very serious horse,” Tony Sears said.

“But he has just got to work things out in his head. He spends a lot of time in a paddock, he spends time with Yellow Brick, and that seems to work for a lot of my older horses.

“He might think he is back in Ireland, because it’s cold enough at the moment in Toowoomba.

“He is a very nice horse, he is just a bit hard to get a guide on because he just does what he has to do. He could win on Saturday; he did run fourth behind Mazu two starts ago.

“It doesn’t seem like a very strong Eye Liner to me.”

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Tony and Maddysen Sears have new stable acquisition Sinawann racing at Ipswich on Saturday. Picture: Trackside Photography.

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One potential concern Sears could have with Sinawann on Saturday is that the galloper can tend to get worked up before his races – and there will be a big crowd there on Ipswich Cup day.

But Sears isn’t too worried and is looking forward to heading on a journey of exploration with the one-time Irish import, who scored his only Australian win in a Group 3 race at Caulfield in November 2021.

Sinawann has raced in two Group 1 races in Australia and finished eighth on both occasions.

Jim Byrne, who knows the Ipswich track like the back of his hand having won more Ipswich jockey premierships than he can remember, will ride Sinawann on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Yellow Brick has been nominated for the Eye Liner but is unlikely to line up.

Sears said the Listed Glasshouse Handicap at the Sunshine Coast early next month is on the agenda for Yellow Brick.

Trainer Tony Sears feeds Yellow Brick a carrot at his Toowoomba stables. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Yellow Brick won the Spear Chief Handicap (1500m) at Eagle Farm on June 8 and the training team had hoped he would get a start in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap.

But he was stranded as second emergency for the Stradbroke, won by Stefi Magnetica who Racenet revealed was now off to the spelling paddock with a potential The Everest campaign looming in the spring.

Originally published as ’Serious horse’: Sinawann feels at home ahead of Eye Liner Stakes tilt at Ipswich