Yellow Brick gets second Stradbroke chance

By Craig Brennan, Danny Matthews and Mandy Cottell 

Having missed a start in last year’s Stradbroke Handicap, Yellow Brick will run in the feature at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

It is not often a horse gets a second chance at running in one of Australia's feature handicaps.

Father-and-daughter training combination Tony and Maddysen Sears were left devastated when Yellow Brick missed gaining a start in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm 12 months ago.

Move forward a year and Yellow Brick is safely in Saturday's Group 1 contest for which he is one of the outsiders at $34 in latest betting behind the $3.10 favourite War Machine.

"Last year we were devastated when he was second emergency and didn't get a start," Maddysen Sears said.

"So, this has been his sole goal this time in."

After a successful carnival last year, Yellow Brick campaigned in Sydney during the spring, finishing fourth in the Five Diamonds Prelude at Randwick and then third in the Five Diamonds at Rosehill.

Given a break, Yellow Brick ran at the Magic Millions Carnival during January before another break with a sole focus on running in this year's Stradbroke Handicap.

Yellow Brick had three trials leading into his sole lead-up outing when finishing 11th to War Machine in the Group 3 BRC Sprint at Doomben on May 24.

The five-year-old has since been back to the trials, having a bowl around in a Doomben 1000 metre heat on heavy ground on June 3 with Saturday's rider Andrew Mallyon in the saddle.

"The horse is flying," Maddysen Sears said.

"He had a nice little tick over trial last week just so he would technically be third-up into the Stradbroke.

"And, Andrew galloped him on Tuesday morning and he said that was the best he's ever felt.

"Rather than race him, we've done a lot more work with him at home and given him the trials.

"He looks amazing and he's ready for Saturday."

Meanwhile, Chris Waller is renowned for sticking with established templates and in two-year-old Hidden Achievement, he has a colt boasting a disarmingly similar profile to his past two J.J. Atkins winners.

The top trainer has claimed the juvenile feature three times, most recently with The Autumn Sun in 2018 and Press Statement three years earlier.

Both made their respective debuts in April and did their lead up racing in Sydney before heading north to capture the Group 1.

Similarly, Hidden Achievement was runner-up on debut at Canterbury in April before breaking his maiden at Gosford's standalone Saturday meeting last month.

While The Autumn Sun and Press Statement won the J.J. Atkins at their third starts, Hidden Achievement's program has a slight deviation – he will tackle it at his fourth and off the back of a close third behind Saturday's rival Zebra Finch at Rosehill.

Waller says he is always mindful of what has worked in the past and believes Hidden Achievement has the quality to feature.

"There is nothing like keeping them at home and educating them, giving them a softer time up to the mile and their grand final," Waller said.

"I think he's got the right profile to go close.

"He has drawn reasonably well and James (McDonald) rides. He is a really nice colt."

Waller has also made a key gear change, fitting Hidden Achievement with blinkers for the Eagle Farm assignment.

"He worked in them Saturday and Tuesday and he responded well to them," he said.

"He won't need them fulltime, but it well help him show a bit more aggression on Saturday."

Waller will also be represented in the race by Providence, while Regulated Affair is a dual acceptor for Brisbane and Sydney but likely to run at his home track of Rosehill after drawing barrier 17 in the Atkins.