A SECOND SUCCESSIVE HOME BASE DOUBLE FOR THE TONY AND MADDYSEN SEARS TRAINING PARTNERSHIP

By Graham Potter | Saturday, July 25, 2026

It might have taken a while, but the winning form that the Tony and Maddysen Sears training partnership used to enjoy at their pervious, long-time home base of Toowoomba, is now starting to be replicated at their Gold Coast base where, for the second Saturday in a row, the team came up with a double training success as Maria Clara (a joint $3.50 favourite) and Sarah’s Sonnets (a $4.80 chance) took the honours.

Both of the Sears trained winners were ridden by Fred Larson.

Maria Clara has wasted little time in getting her career on the move. The two-year-old daughter of Doubtland finished third on debut when coming home less than a length off the winner in a QTIS Two-Year-Old Maiden Plate over 1200m … that after being caught wide early … then leading … only to be run out of it over the final 100m.

Second-up here in a QTIS Two-Year-Old Maden Plate over 1000m, Maria Clara again had a wide draw to contend with (barrier nine out of ten), but she quickly made light of that disadvantage, spearing into an immediate lead with Fred Larson riding the filly like she was the best horse in the race.

Once in front, Maria Clara held her position at the head of affairs at a comfortable, measured gallop, a tactic which gave her the reserved strength required to kick way in the first half of the home straight … and to do so in a manner which quickly helped her to establish a winning lead.

The other joint favourite Summer Sensation came out of the chasing pack with 200m left to run, still a little over three lengths adrift of the Sears trained runner and, although Summer Sensation did make up some ground on the winner over the concluding stages, she was never going to reel in the free-running Maria Clara who scored by an emphatic 1.39 length margin.
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Then it was the turn of Sarah’s Sonnetts, a lightly raced four-year-old mare, to strike for the Sears stable in a BM68 Handicap over 2233m.

Sarah’s Sonnets ($4.80) was third-up here after finishing in third place (over 1650m) and then second place (over 1800m) in her first two starts since resuming.

It is worth noting that this daughter of Castelvecchio won the last two starts of her previous preparation (over 1600m and 2120m), suggesting at as she gets deeper into her preparation and increases the distance test, the better she is.

That’s exactly what happened here as Sarah’s Sonnets showed she was ready and capable of putting her next career win on the board.

Fred Larson had the Sears trained runner sitting back in the second half of the field early on, racing just to the outside of the race favourite Southby ($2.90), some six lengths off the lead.

Little changed down the back straight and in the sweep to the home turn, but Larson had merely been biding his time, waiting for the moment that would galvanise him into action … that being the moment that the favourite Southby, who Larson had been keeping an eye on, was roused up for his finishing effort.

Larson reacted swiftly to the favourite’s move and with a surge of his own on Sarah’s Sonnets, coming from behind Southby with a sweeping move on the outside to almost immediately leave Southby a couple of lengths in her wake.

And the win got even more impressive from there as Sarah’s Sonnets simply cruised up into contention … with Larson sitting still while all of the runners around Sarah’s Sonnets were being hard ridden.

Larson treated the then frontrunner Kalkanli ($8.50) with a touch of contempt, never giving that runner a second glance as he ranged alongside … he knew he had that one covered. Instead, he rather just took two precautionary looks between his legs over the concluding stages to make sure nothing was running on strongly enough to trouble Sarah’s Sonnets as she raced to the line.

Southby, who chased gamely enough but with little effect, had to settle for second place, 1.71 lengths behind the winner as Sarah’s Sonnets advanced her race record to three wins and three minor places from only seven starts.