Stradbroke contender Tyzone taking Hedley out of his comfort zone
Tyzone’s owner Tom Hedley has been fixing up a pub in Gordonvale in far north Queensland for the past week while the excitement of the Stradbroke has been building up 1600-odd kilometres south in Brisbane.
It is funny he would be in Gordonvale, a place near Cairns where Tyzone, his Stradbroke runner, notched one of his 16 wins.
“I never thought I would have a Stradbroke runner and when he drew barrier 12 and we worked out we would come into eight or nine, I thought how good,” Hedley said. “It is all working out because at the start of the week we thought we might miss out. Now it is just exciting.
“I have had thousands of horses but to have one in the biggest race in Queensland is pretty special. I think he is a good show.”
Hedley is the biggest owner of thoroughbreds in North Queensland. His orange colours with the yellow 'H' are a familiar sight up there but rarely get further south. That’s where the Tyzone story began.
We had offers from Asia for $200,000 then 300 and 350, but I’ve spent more than that trying to find a horse like him for the past 40 years.
Tom Hedley on Tyzone
Hedley and his trainer, Roy Chillemi, bought the son of Written Tycoon at a ready-to-run sale for $60,000 to win big races in North Queensland, and it has proven a wise investment.
Tyzone won North Queensland’s biggest two-year-old race, and soon it was apparent he was just better than the horses up that way.
“We generally just race up here but this bloke is different," Hedley said. "He was a good horse up here – too good. The handicapper caught up with him.
“We had offers from Asia for $200,000 then 300 and 350, but I’ve spent more than that trying to find a horse like him for the past 40 years.
“We ended up sending down to Toby Edmonds and he has put the blinkers on him and got him flying.”
Tyzone has emerged under the care of Edmonds. Last year he was placed in the Eye Liner Stakes and Ramornie Handicap over the Grafton carnival but it was the addition of the blinkers in January that have improved him into a stakes winner.
He has won three of his five starts since and it could be argued his two defeats in the Weetwood at Toowoomba and Hall Mark Mark Stakes in Sydney could easily have been victories. The latest was a storming win in the BRC Sprint a couple of weeks ago.
“When he arrived we knew he could gallop,” Edmonds said. “It was just a matter of getting him in our system, and the blinkers have certainly helped.
“We ride him quiet and and you saw what he can do at Doomben.
“I think the 1400m and Eagle Farm will really suit him, and he gets in with a good weight.”
Tommy Berry has taken the ride at 53kg and will be given clear instructions to come down the centre of the track.
"I would prefer to see him in the middle of the track because he likes to get his own clear space, that's when he really lets go," Edmonds said. "If he gets that, the horse is a winner and he will go close."