Greg Sugars' ‘project' horse, Fighter Command, set for 2025 Eureka redemption
Before Sugars, who was just 40 and at the peak of powers, passed suddenly on April 26, Fighter Command was his project.
A big, raw and highly-gifted gelding with the potential to be a star of the sport.
Sugars knew and would tell his close mate, James Herbertson.
'Hes From Heaven and Fighter Command were the same age and came up together. I've always loved Hes From Heaven, but Greg kept telling me Fighter Command was better,' he said.
'We'd still be arguing about it now if he was here.'
• 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!
Sugars' wife, Jess Tubbs, trains Fighter Command but it is Herbertson who has 'inherited' the driving since Sugars' devastating and unexplained passing.
Together, they head to Hobart on Saturday night with Fighter Command, chasing a golden ticket into the world's richest harness race, the $2.1 million TAB Eureka at Menangle on September 6.
Sugars will be in the front of their minds.
It was Sugars who took the reins 12 months ago at Hobart when Fighter Command won the $80,000 Beautide and snared the resultant Tasracing slot into the TAB Eureka.
FIGHTER COMMAND is Eureka bound!! Taking out The Beautide at Hobart tonight the Jess Tubbs trained and Greg Sugars driven gelding is into the worlds richest race on September 7!🤩 pic.twitter.com/sKrewNfWhn
— NSWSOA (@NSWStandardbred) August 3, 2024
Excitement turned to heartbreak a few weeks later and just days out from the TAB Eureka when Fighter Command was struck down with a twisted bowel and spent days fighting for his life.
His TAB Eureka dream was over and it would be six months before he made it back to the racetrack.
Fighter Command has raced eight times on the comeback trail for two wins, a second, a third and two fourths.
Tubbs has given him a deliberately slow and meticulous build-up with redemption in mind.
'He's still a big baby and learning, but the motor is there,' Herbertson said.
'Jess has done a great job with him and we've seen progress this campaign. A few starts back there was a scrimmage and he had to duck and weave through them, something he'd have galloped for a year ago.
'But he's still a work in progress. He's not quite there mentally yet.
'It's as much knowing when to switch on and off. Sometimes he'll be keen on the (starting) gate, others he won't want to be there. Then he'll switch off at a stage of the race you want him focused and raring to go.
'It's all those one per-centres he needs to get right if he's going to be the horse Greg thought he could be.'
The two biggest guns of the world's richest harness race, Bay Of Biscay and Fighter Command, will head interstate to step-up their preparations on Saturday night. Story: @AdamHSport ðŸ'‡ https://t.co/yJAUvUefwj
— Racenet (@RacenetTweets) July 29, 2025
Quirks aside, Fighter Command should win the Beautide.
'I spoke to Mitch Ford (local driver) and he said he should beat the Tassie horses by a fair way,' Herbertson said.
'I guess he did beat them easily last year and he's got his act together a lot more since then.
'But the Eureka will be a different story. It's not far away and it's a race where he'll need to get it all together.
'Bay Of Biscay is the (Eureka) favourite. I'd say this guy has as much talent, but Bay Of Biscay has more manners and is more versatile right now.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Herald Sun
an hour ago
- Herald Sun
Valley hero Mornington Glory on track for Group 1 Moir Stakes defence
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. Mornington Glory won at the corresponding meeting at The Valley last season before progressing to win the Listed Norman Carlyon Stakes and the Group 1 Moir Stakes over 1000m at his next two runs. • 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! Mornington Glory is one of six acceptors for the Benchmark 100 Handicap (1000m) with apprentice Luke Cartwright's claim to leave the sprinter to 59kg, only half a kilogram more than the same race last year. Mornington Glory missed Melbourne's major autumn sprints but showed he had benefited from the time off with an impressive Caulfield jumpout on July 30. 'He couldn't have gone any better,' Bedggood said. 'He trialled great so everything is on track.' • Japan stint has Dee primed to sprinkle some spring 'magic' The Cranbourne trainer hoped to capitalise on a lack of top class 1000m horses in the early part of the spring when tackling the Moir Stakes at weight-for-age. 'We don't want to change anything that's not broken and there looks to be a lack of genuine 1000m horses around at the moment,' Bedggood said. 'A lot of them are up and going and up at 1200m already. 'There's always the progressive three-year-old that might come through but he's got the score on the board around the track 'Hopefully we get a few dry weeks.' Bedggood said Mornington Glory needed targets over 1000m or 1100m, making races like the Schillaci Stakes during the Caulfield Cup carnival an option. 'There's a race at Caulfield over 1100(m), the Schillaci, so I would say they were our three big targets at the moment,' Bedggood said. 'Those first two (stakes) races are the goal though, so we'll see how we go.' Originally published as Valley hero Mornington Glory on track for Group 1 Moir Stakes defence
Mercury
4 hours ago
- Mercury
Tony Gollan reveals his Melbourne and Sydney spring carnival team and target races
Queensland trainer Tony Gollan will launch his biggest spring carnival assault yet with Antino the headline act. Find out who he is sending south and what races they will be targeting. Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. Tony Gollan has assembled one of his largest teams to attack the southern spring carnivals, with a formidable five-horse support squad set to join headline traveller Antino. Antino's Cox Plate path is well documented but the champion Queensland trainer will also have sprinters Zarastro and Golden Boom along with Transatlantic and Freedom Rally heading for Melbourne spring missions. • 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! Elite mare Floozie, who won four straight when joining Gollan and then started favourite in the Group 1 Tatt's Tiara, is likely to be deployed in Sydney during the spring. Queensland's star trainer reveals the main goals he has in mind for his touring support squad which will have multiple Group 1 winner and Cox Plate second betting pick Antino as the marquee act. — Gollan Racing (@tonygollan) August 5, 2025 • Vandyke eyes first Victorian spring since Alligator Blood heroics ZARASTRO This is the sprinter who went within a pimple of giving young jockey Angela Jones her first Group 1, being denied by the barest of margins when being run down by a flying Joliestar in the Kingsford Smith Cup during the Queensland winter carnival. 'You might see us head towards the Group 1 Manikato Stakes and then potentially head to Sydney for the Sydney Stakes which is on Everest day,' Gollan said. 'Or we might even look to get him out to 1400m. 'I've got plenty of options with him, but I do want to try him again at Group 1 level at some stage during the spring.' TRANSATLANTIC Gollan has openly said for the last 12 months that Transatlantic has the capability to follow a similar trajectory as two-time Group 1 winning star Antino. Transatlantic didn't finish near them in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap when sneaking into the field but Gollan insists he is a proper horse. 'I'm pretty keen for him to do a pretty similar preparation to Antino in 2023, head towards a Toorak Handicap and then possibly finish in the $2m Five Diamonds in Sydney,' Gollan said. 'This horse has excited me for a while. 'I think a mile is probably his go and possibly further.' • Stable switch: Exciting Queensland filly bound for Victoria GOLDEN BOOM The sharp sprinter who has banked more than $1m in prizemoney had one run in Melbourne last spring when finishing runner-up to Mornington Glory in the Listed Carlyon Stakes at The Valley. He was well beaten in the Jimmysstar's Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield in February and hasn't been at the races since, but brained them in a Deagon trial earlier this week. 'He will head to the same race he was in last year, the Carlyon, and then hopefully go to the Group 1 Moir Stakes,' Gollan said. 'Whereas last year I just went to the one race in Melbourne for him, because he was coming off a winter preparation. 'This year we are fresh into a spring carnival preparation. 'After the Moir there are more options for him if he is going well.' • 'She is so humble': Proud mum revels in daughter's premiership feat FREEDOM RALLY Gollan has given this $1m earner three attempts at Group 1 level and he has been unplaced at each. However, he is keen to try something different this spring. 'We want to try to get him out to 2000m this preparation,' Gollan said. 'Whether that be in Melbourne or in Sydney, I don't really have a grand Group 1 goal for him. 'I probably just want to try to get him out in trip, under the top level. 'He will go to Melbourne in the first instance and his first two runs will be there.' • Bookmaker reveals biggest winners and losers in 2024-25 FLOOZIE The mare was one of the finds of the winter carnival, turning into a winning machine for Gollan after heading north from Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr who trained her in Victoria. She looked the one to beat in the Group 1 Tatt's Tiara, but finished fifth after looking like she had come to the end of her preparation. 'Later in the spring, you will see this mare head down to Sydney,' Gollan said. 'She will have two to three runs before she has a break with next year's winter carnival in mind. 'There are a few good options for her in Sydney, including The Invitation ($2m race for fillies and mares).' Originally published as Tony Gollan reveals the five horses joining Antino in his Melbourne and Sydney spring carnival team Horse Racing Trainer Matt Laurie is excited to unleash Caulfield Cup-nominated Group 1 star Treasurethe Moment against Australia's best equine talent in the Melbourne Spring Carnival. Horse Racing Former Victorian-based horseman Nacim Dilmi will saddle up three runners at the midweeks in Sydney as the latest ex-Godolphin product to start his next chapter.
The Australian
6 hours ago
- The Australian
Treasurethe Moment targets Spring glory in Caulfield Cup campaign
Trainer Matt Laurie is excited to unleash Caulfield Cup-nominated Group 1 star Treasurethe Moment against Australia's best equine talent in the Melbourne spring carnival. Treasurethe Moment, set to jumpout at Mornington on Wednesday, 'achieved everything we set her for' last season, with three Group 1 wins including Oaks in Melbourne and Sydney. 'Hopefully she can continue on and we'll be able to nail a Group 1 against the older bracket,' Laurie said. • 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! 'She's got such a great win record, it's going to be very interesting to see how she handles herself against this next lot of opposition.' Treasurethe Moment will audition for the Caulfield Cup or Cox Plate with Group 1 performances in the Memsie Stakes, Makybe Diva Stakes and Turnbull Stakes. 'She's a star and I'm looking forward to the next preparation,' Laurie said. 'We placed her to win (three-year-old fillies Group 1 targets) and she delivered and we're obviously here to carry on winning but we have to be a bit realistic about it. Treasurethe Moment winning the Australian Oaks. Picture: Getty Images 'We're going to be coming up against some wonderful horses, so we'll see where we stand. 'She's going to have to take some big steps but she looks like the horse that might be capable of doing it.' Treasurethe Moment cut a striking figure on Tuesday at Laurie's picturesque Carringbush Park in Moorooduc. 'She certainly couldn't look any better at this stage of her preparation,' Laurie beamed. 'Most of the horses are still sporting a pretty wintry looking coat, she basically looks as though she's well into the spring already.' • Japan stint has jet-setting Dee primed to sprinkle some spring 'magic' Treasurethe Moment is equal $11 all-in favourite for the Caulfield Cup and $8 third elect in Cox Plate markets. Laurie deferred the ultimate Caulfield Cup-Cox Plate decision to Yulong billionaire owner-breeder Yuesheng Zhang but said the former could be the 'better target' based on track suitability and opposition strength. 'I think whichever way we went she'd be suitable, in anything we targeted,' Laurie said. 'She's an ultimate talent. We'll make our decision as we get further into the prep.' The Caulfield Cup has attracted 146 nominations, while the Cox Plate received 108 entries. Gilbert Gardiner Sports reporter Gilbert Gardiner is a sports reporter for the Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun. @gilbertgardiner Gilbert Gardiner
