Stradbroke Handicap: Tyzone delivers Group 1 joy for Toby and Trent Edmonds
A plan 12 months in the making delivered breakthrough successes on many fronts as Tyzone etched his name on the Stradbroke honour roll a year after finishing second.
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A plan 12 months in the making delivered breakthrough successes on many fronts as Tyzone etched his name on the Stradbroke honour roll a year after finishing second.
It gave Toby and Trent Edmonds their first Group 1 win, Robbie Fradd his first Group 1 success in Australia and owner Tom Hedley’s first Group 1 in 40 years of racing horses.
Tyzone started his career with Roy Chillemi in North Queensland and has been a prolific winner from the outset. This was his 17th success, but first since he took out last year’s BRC Sprint in the race before he ran second to Trekking in the Stradbroke.
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Trent Edmonds has had his trainer’s license for less than a year and now counts himself among those to have climbed to racing’s highest level.
“I’m lost for words to be honest. This is outstanding,” he said.
“I just started in the partnership at the start of the season, so for me that’s obviously great, but the old man has been slogging away for a long time. It’s huge.
A thrilling finish in the TAB Stradbroke Handicap as Tyzone who ran second in last year's race has come back to win the 2020 edition for @EdmondsRacing and Robbie Fradd @TrentEd1 @RaceQLD @BrisRacingClub pic.twitter.com/dwVpIcchUu
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 6, 2020
“What a horse. I must thank Tom Hedley and the team from Cairns for giving us a crack. He’s just a star. He’s a winning machine and it’s just so special.”
Toby Edmonds admitted achieving the feat with his son made it extra special.
“Trent has always been in the background. It’s a name there for us now. We work good together, he’s a great kid and it’s bloody good,” he said.
“It’s great. Honestly. It’s been a long time coming and I’ve finally got one.
“That’s big. Twelve months ago he ran second. He’s been carrying big weights all the way through, we knew when he got back to handicap conditions he was going to be awfully hard to beat at the right distance.
“Thanks to Tom Hedley and the guys from Cairns for their support. They have been unbelievable supporters of mine since they moved the horse down and it’s a buzz, I can tell you.”
Fradd has become one of the great characters of Queensland racing after making the move to the Gold Coast some years back. He had been a star on the international stage for many years and ridden some great horses, but Saturday was his biggest moment in Australia.
"He's just star, horses don't do what he's done. He's a winning machine"@TrentEd1 after winning the TAB Stradbroke with Tyzone @EdmondsRacing @RaceQLD pic.twitter.com/Qi0KT77Pn8
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 6, 2020
“First one. Can you believe it? For me in Australia and Toby. We both needed it badly!” he said. “A special race like the Stradbroke, being the Group 1 it is. I’m ecstatic to win it and couldn’t be happier.
“We planned on this horse and he peaked at the right time.
“I thought the second horse had pinched it on me, but he kept grinding away.”
King of the longshots Jason Taylor went within a stride of landing his second Stradbroke, having looked the winner for much of the straight on Madam Rouge.
Jimmy Orman, who spent a fortnight shredding his body into shape to ride Niccanova at 53.5kg, lamented a squeeze around the back which he felt cost him the race.
“All that work to run third,” he said. “If he draws a barrier, I have no doubt he wins.”
Big win has Hedley over the moon
It wasn’t the way Tom Hedley had envisaged winning his first Group 1 race, but the select crew at his Red Beret Hotel in Cairns celebrated as if they were there when Tyzone won the Stradbroke.
Abiding by COVID-19 restrictions, Hedley enjoyed the race with as many friends as the new restrictions permitted.
“What about that brother! The boy from the bush got them!” he said.
“I have a few tears, I can tell you. That’s pretty exciting stuff.
“I’ve been doing this all my life, he’s taken us to another level, this horse, and here we are again today. The best race in Queensland. You can’t get much better.”
He lamented the fact he couldn’t be on course to witness the moment that has been 40 years in the making, but he was still making the most of the occasion last night.
“The virus cost me a $1 million payday, but I’m over the moon.”
Originally published as Stradbroke Handicap: Tyzone delivers Group 1 joy for Toby and Trent Edmonds