Stradbroke Handicap runner-up Yellow Brick will be set for another attempt at Epsom Handicap

Yellow Brick’s performance in the Stradbroke Handicap has set up a return to Sydney for the Group 1 Epsom Handicap after his plans last spring went astray.

The Epsom Handicap is on the agenda again for Yellow Brick. Picture: Trackside Photography

A bout of travel sickness aborted Yellow Brick’s shot at the Group 1 Epsom Handicap last year, but it is full steam ahead this time for the plucky Stradbroke Handicap runner-up.

The Queensland training team of Maddy Sears and her father Tony have circled the Epsom at Randwick in October as the goal for Yellow Brick in the remainder of 2025.

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An Epsom mission had been on the cards last year but plans changed when Yellow Brick spiked a temperature from travel sickness and had to be scratched from one of his lead-up runs.

It totally altered the Sydney spring campaign for Yellow Brick who then targeted the $2m Five Diamonds in November where he finished a valiant third.

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Maddy Sears is convinced five-year-old Yellow Brick has never been going better and she was delighted when her opinion was franked when he turned in a huge run at $41 to finish Stradbroke runner-up behind War Machine last Saturday.

After a short paddock break, it is onwards and upwards to a Sydney spring campaign which will culminate in the Epsom over the famous Randwick mile.

War Machine WINS the G1 Stradbroke Handicap! 🏆

Tim Clark with a flawless performance in the saddle! pic.twitter.com/oDuyB1gLJN

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 14, 2025

“He is so good over a mile and all the prominent form people we have spoken to say the Epsom would be an ideal race for him,” Maddy Sears said.

“He will have a couple of weeks off in a grassy paddock and then a couple of trials before we head to Sydney.

“He hasn’t won an interstate race yet, but he has gone close, and we really want him to show what he can do on the big stage down south.”

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Yellow Brick finished three-quarters of a length off War Machine in the Stradbroke but on reflection, Maddy Sears believes he should have finished even closer.

He not only suffered some interference from an incident that saw Rothfire’s jockey Craig Williams suspended for 14 days, but he was also one of the few runners at Eagle Farm on Stradbroke day to make significant ground from near the back.

Maddy Sears will plan another Sydney spring campaign for Yellow Brick. Picture: Trackside Photography

“He copped some interference and that probably put us a length or two back from where we really wanted to be in the run,” Sears said.

“But it really did feel like a win, Dad and I are part-owners of the horse and he owes us nothing.

“A lot of people knocked him from his prior run at Doomben, but he carried a big weight and he has never really loved Doomben.

“He seemed to get crucified on the back of one run and I thought his odds in the Stradbroke were ridiculous.

“He was the forgotten horse of the race for many people, but he certainly wasn’t for us.”

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Yellow Brick earned $540,000 from his runner-up finish in the Stradbroke, taking his career prizemoney haul to almost $2.5m.

Tony and Maddy Sears, who have moved from Toowoomba to the Gold Coast to train, are hunting their first Group 1 triumph and hope they can crack it in the Epsom.

Originally published as Stradbroke Handicap runner-up Yellow Brick will be set for another attempt at Epsom Handicap