Latest news with #JessTubbs
News.com.au
01-07-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Jess Tubbs frustrated stablemates Better Eclipse and Rakero Rebel will clash in Inter Dominion heat
Top Victorian trainer Jess Tubbs is frustrated her two Brisbane Inter Dominion hopefuls Better Eclipse and Rakero Rebel have to clash in Saturday night's opening round heats at Albion Park. Rules vary across major races and different states, but often there are 'stable splits' in feature events. Tubbs, another top Victorian trainer Andy Gath and prominent Queensland trainer Shannon Price all have stable clashes in the first of the three pacing heats on Saturday night. Gath, who has three pacers in the series, has his two key pacing hopes Tango Tara and Catch Wave against each other. Like Tubbs, Price only has two pacers in the series – Sure Thing Captain and Speak The Truth – and they lock horns on night one. 'It's frustrating. It's a long way to go to the other end of the country and then have to find a second driver and even a spare sulky when the only two horses you've got up there have to clash,' Tubbs said. 'The fact there are only two (not three) rounds of heats adds to the frustration. 'I'm annoyed, but I'd be a lot more annoyed if they hadn't both drawn so well.' Better Eclipse, who ran second to Leap To Fame in the 2023 Brisbane Inter Dominion final, has drawn gate one with Rakero Rebel right next door in two. 'They're drawn to get good runs and have their chance,' Tubbs said. Australia's premier driver James Herbertson was to drive the pair through the series, but with the clash he will be aboard Rakero Rebel. 'I spoke to the owners of Better Eclipse and they wanted Josh Gallagher, so I've popped him on,' Tubbs said. As expected, Gath's wife, Kate, is down to drive their eight-time Group 1 winner Catch A Wave (gate 11), with Robbie Morris on Tango Tara (eight). Tubbs' focus will be shared between Albion Park and Melton on Saturday night. Her emerging star and stable sentimental favourite Fighter Command runs at Melton to continue his build-up towards the world's richest harness race, the $2.1m TAB Eureka, at Menangle on September 6. 'I'm super happy with him. His last run was great and he's building well,' Tubbs said. 'I like the fact he's drawn for a good trailing run (gate eight, inside the back row) this week so he can keep building. 'It's all about ticking him along until The Beautide in Hobart (August 2). 'He'll have this run and one more to be at his top for Tassie.' Just like he did last year. Fighter Command can secure the Tasracing slot in the TAB Eureka by winning the $80,000 Beautide. But last year, the then three-year-old was struck down with a life threatening bout of colic just days before the TAB Eureka and missed the race. 'There's certainly some unfinished business, but given what happened last year, we're all just going one race at a time for the moment. 'Hopefully we get to the Beautide, get the job done there, and then start to focus on the Eureka.' Such is the boom on Fighter Command, he is $5 second pre-post favourite behind another Victorian star Bay Of Biscay ($3.50) for the TAB Eureka.
News.com.au
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Victorian pacer Fighter Command chasing Eureka slot via The Beautide in Tasmania
Star pacer Fighter Command will bypass the Queensland riches to focus on a Tasmanian pathway towards a spot in the world's richest harness race. Just as he did last year, the four-year-old will target the $60,000 Beautide in Hobart on August 2 for his ticket into the $2.1m TAB Eureka at Menangle on September 6. The winner of the Beautide gets the Tasracing slot in the TAB Eureka and Fighter Command is eligible because he was bred and foaled in Tasmania. 'We didn't get an invitation as such to the Rising Sun (Albion Park on July 5), so we'll focus on the Beautide again,' trainer Jess Tubbs said. Fighter Command, who was scratched just days before last year's TAB Eureka with a life threatening twisted bowel, has only raced five times since for two wins and two fourths. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! He will take another important step towards the TAB Eureka in a fascinating Nevele R Stud Pace (1720m) from a back row draw (gate 10) at Melton on Saturday. Standing in his way is the exciting The Narcissist (gate eight), who is unbeaten in eight starts since switching to the powerhouse Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin stable. Although Fighter Command won't head north, Tubbs is still going with one, maybe two of her stable stars. The definite is star mare Rakero Rebel, who looks the main threat to pre-post favourite Eye Keep Smiling in the $150,000 Group 1 Golden Girl at Albion Park on July 19. Rakero Rebel will sharpen up for Queensland when she drops back to racing her own sex from gate six in the eight race at Melton on Saturday night. 'Providing she goes as well as we expect, I have to take her,' Tubbs said. 'Better Eclipse is the other possible raider. He's got a Melton trial this week and probably another next week and then I'll make the final call on him. 'I had to turn him out again because he just wasn't himself in a couple of runs back, but he seems better now.' In Tubbs' mind is how well Better Eclipse has performed in Queensland previously, including winning the Group 1 Sunshine Sprint in 2022. Better Eclipse also won two heats and finished second in another before running second in the 2023 Brisbane Inter Dominion final behind the great Leap To Fame. Queensland has been a happy hunting ground for Tubbs in general. She scored her first Group 1 training success with Momentslikethese in the 2021 Queensland Oaks. The other Melton race on Saturday night with big Brisbane implications is the Yabby Dams Trotters' Free-For-All where Arcee Phoenix resumes from a break. Chris Svanosio's six-year-old scored his biggest win in the $NZ600,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge on April 4 and is vying for Inter Dominion favouritism with star Kiwi pair Oscar Bonavena and Bet N Win.
News.com.au
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Harness racing: Champion driver James Herbertson to ponder future after Greg Sugars' passing
Australia's premier driver James Herbertson flew back to the US on Tuesday a shattered man and with a huge career decision to make. Herbertson, 24, spoke glowingly and straight from the heart about his great mate Greg Sugars at Monday's memorial service for the champion driver, who died on April 26. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'Greg was another father, a mentor and idol … Greg, you'll never know the pedestal I had you on,' Herbertson said. Herbertson had earlier jetted back from a working holiday in the US soon after Sugars' shock passing. 'I couldn't stay in the US then. I wasn't in the right headspace to stay and had to get back to support Jess,' he said. 'Now my whole world has changed and will never be the same. 'I'm going back to finish what I started in the US. It's a chance to reset. 'To be honest, I wasn't planning on staying that long in Australia once I finished this trip, but there is so much more to consider now. 'Jess (Tubbs) will need a worker and a driver … we've all got a lot of thinking to do.' Herbertson will spend a week back in New Jersey then travel to Stockholm during the iconic Elitlopp carnival later this month. 'I'll have a week or 10 days working in a stable there and then Ewa (Justice, girlfriend) and I will have some actual holiday time in Poland and maybe another place or two. 'We don't have a fixed return date. I don't feel like putting a time on things right now, I want to play it by ear.' Herbertson drove four of the 10 winners at Melton last Saturday night, including two for Tubbs (Illawong Larajay and No Money No Honey). Tubbs has a big and impressive team of horses in work under the Larajay Farms brand she and Sugars built so quickly and successfully. Following the huge success of Kiwi Dexter Dunn and Aussie brothers Andy and Todd McCarthy, Herbertson has the credentials to become a driver in demand should he make the US home. Despite already spending a couple of weeks in the US, Herbertson still holds a 20-win lead (with 106 wins) in this season's Australian Drivers' Premiership over Queenslander Pete McMullen. Herbertson stamped his emergence on a national level when he dominated last year's premiership, finishing the season with 370 wins, 93 clear of runner-up McMullen.
News.com.au
12-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
‘The world stopped turning on April 26': Harness racing pays emotional tribute to the late Greg Sugars at Melton memorial service
Greg Sugars took centre stage at Melton one last time. The racetrack where the champion horseman drove the majority of his winners and celebrated some of his greatest moments, on Monday became the place where family, friends and the harness industry emotionally farewelled him. More than 1000 people, from all around Australia and many from NZ, gathered to hear stories of Sugars the person as much as Sugars the Hall of Fame horseman. Sugars' wife, Jess Tubbs, opened the tributes and was followed by Australia's premier driver and close friend James Herbertson, Sugars' sister, Kylie, friend and Alabar Bloodstock supremo Brett Coffey and close Kiwi friend and horseman, Gavin Smith. NZ's greatest horseman Mark Purdon flew across and other touching tributes followed from former HRNSW CEO John Dumesny, top horseman Geoff Webster, former Adelaide race caller Jim Jacques and Malcolm Wells, managing owner of Tubbs and Sugars' champion trotter Just Believe. Tubbs showed remarkable strength and vulnerability as she spoke of the life they built and the devastating loss she felt. 'After two really hard years where we focused on work more than ourselves, 2025 was meant to be our year,' she said. 'Greg was the dreamer and I was the voice of reason, it's why we worked so well together. 'There are no answers yet (as to how Sugars died), but hopefully we will in time.' Sugars died in his sleep on April 26. Tubbs and Sugars shared the greatest of highs with Just Believe, who took them around the world and won them 10 Group 1 races. He retired in January the second-richest earning trotter in Australasian history. 'The bond 'Harry' (Just Believe's stable name) and Greg had was incredible and I firmly believe he wouldn't have reached the heights he did without Greg,' Tubbs said. Wells added: 'Jess and Greg took us on a journey we could only dream of.' Herbertson, who flew back from a working holiday in the US, said Sugars was 'like another father, a mentor and an idol'. 'Greg, you'll never know the pedestal I had you on … the world stopped turning on April 26.' His sister, Kylie, talked of life growing-up in the outer suburbs of Adelaide with father Ross, a decorated horseman, and mother, Kerry. 'Try and all live your lives like Greg did. He lived it like he wanted and to heck with the finer details,' she said. 'And he went to places two kids growing up in Virginia could only dream of.' Gavin Smith first met Sugars in Adelaide 18 years ago when competing in the Australasian Young Drivers' Championship. 'I knew within two minutes we could be great mates. I remember when Jim Jacques (race caller) introduced all us drivers to the crowd in that series. We all shook our heads when Jim gave Greg the most lavish of intros, I looked over and that was the first time I saw that huge smile of his … I've never forgotten it.' Sugars, just 40, had already built a Hall of Fame career with wins in so many of Australasia's biggest races. He drove more than 4000 winners, including 71 at Group 1 level. Such was his impact, drivers throughout Australia, NZ, Sweden and numerous US tracks wore black armbands today or will in the coming days.
News.com.au
11-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Champion harness racing identity Greg Sugars to be farewelled at memorial service at Melton today
Champion harness racing horseman Greg Sugars will today be farewelled at a memorial service at Melton, a track where he scored so many of his biggest wins. A large crowd is expected at the 12pm service, which is open to the public and will feature heartfelt tributes from Sugars' family and closest friends in the Legends Room at Melton Entertainment Park. For those unable to attend, the service will be live streamed via Sugars, 40, died in his sleep on April 25 at the height of his powers. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The South Australian-bred horseman boasted a Hall of Fame record. He won 71 Group 1 races and drove more than 4000 winners, including wins all around Australia, NZ and even in the US. In recent years, Sugars' success with his wife and training partner, Jess Tubbs, and their champion trotter Just Believe had propelled the pair to international stardom. Just Believe won a legion of Scandinavian fans during his three-race Swedish trip in 2023. A moment to treasure forever. Greg Sugars and Jess Tubbs arriving like rock stars at the 2023 Elitlopp â�¦ @Solvalla â�© Greg’s Memorial Service from Noon tomorrow at Melton track. Also live streamed â�¦ @TheTrotsComAu â�© Video: â�¦ @ryanphelan_tv â�© — Adam Hamilton (@AdamHSport) May 10, 2025 Last year, the mighty trotter raced six times in NZ for five wins and a second, including wins in the country's three biggest trotting races, the TAB Trot, Rowe Cup and Dominion Trot. Just recently, Sugars partnered the unbeaten Always Hot to win the Group 1 NSW Derby and said he was one of the most exciting pacers he had ever driven. Sugars is remembered by his wife Jess, father Ross, mother Kerry, sister Kylie and many close friends.
