Sears' looking to bounce back with Ipswich Cup defence

By Dylan Mutu

Fresh off a rewarding weekend that narrowly missed being a blockbuster, the Sears stable return with their eyes on a Listed Ipswich Cup defence.

The 2024 Ipswich Cup was a special one for father-and-daughter training duo Tony and Maddysen Sears, claiming the time-honoured feature with stable warhorse Red Wave.

Now, they're back with a two-pronged attack in the $250,000 race, with co-trainer Maddysen Sears particularly optimistic about how her reigning champ Red Wave is shaping up ahead of his quick back-up into this weekend.

“Yeah, he pulled up super,” Sears said.

“I was stoked with how he raced in the Wayne Wilson – he hit the line really strong. Obviously, it was over a mile, which wasn’t exactly the distance we had in mind, but there’ve been a few hiccups along the way that set us back a little bit.

“But he’s jumping out of his skin. He went to the beach this morning and, yeah, I couldn’t have him any better.”

This year, Red Wave will carry 5.5kg more than he did in last year’s Ipswich Cup, while stablemate Poetic Drama comes in at the lighter 53kg – the same weight Red Wave carried in the 2024 edition.

Co-trainer Maddysen Sears has locked in Angela Jones – who guided Red Wave to victory in last year’s Cup – to ride Poetic Drama, with her lighter weight in mind. Meanwhile, Jones' fiancé and fellow hoop Kyle Wilson-Taylor will partner the topweight, Red Wave.

Sears believes the weight swing could give Poetic Drama a boost, especially given she’s untried over the trip.

“Yeah, Poetic Drama goes extremely well for Ang,” Sears said.

“We sort of had a chat about it, and we’re happy Ang is on her this Saturday. Kyle has ridden Red Wave quite a bit, especially throughout his three-year-old career.

“We’re more than happy to have Kyle on Red Wave – he’s a great jockey.”

Even though Stradbroke Day may have fallen just short, there’s still plenty in store for the Sears stable looking ahead.

Yellow Brick, who produced a huge second-place finish in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap, has now gone for a two-week freshen-up before targeting a Group 1 Epsom campaign later this year.

Sears was thrilled with how her stable star performed at the weekend.

“Yeah, it was very exciting,” Sears said.

“It was so close to being ‘really exciting’ – but yeah, he raced out of his skin, just how we expected him to go. We were very confident going into the race.

“I said in a pre-race interview that he was the forgotten horse, and the price reflected that. I was blown away he was at double figures. He’s having two weeks off now, then we’ll start an Epsom campaign for him.”

But first, all focus is on this Saturday’s Ipswich Cup, as the Gold Coast-based team aim to defend their crown in the race that brought the stable so much joy last year.

Despite Red Wave being a $19 chance in the feature, mainly due to his slightly interrupted preparation, Sears is confident about a repeat performance from her six-year-old.

“Yeah, last year was really special. I was very proud of him,” Sears said. 

"It was a race I set him for across the whole carnival, and I’ve done the same with him this year.

“His sectionals were the fastest in the final 200m of the Wayne Wilson last week, which proves to me he’s certainly going well enough to win this again.”

Stablemate Poetic Drama has been wound in by the bookies to start a top-three chance in the market, with Sears suggesting she should handle the distance.

“We’ve also got Poetic Drama in the race, and I think she’s going to be extremely competitive,” Sears said.

“She’s going very, very well. She was stuck behind a wall of horses with nowhere to go last start, and I think if she had got out, she would’ve been in the finish.

“But yeah, they’re both going extremely well, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they both run top three.”