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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
35 minutes ago
- News.com.au
James Cummings accepts offer to train in Hong Kong from the 2026-27 season
James Cummings will withdraw his application for the famous Leilani Lodge stables at Royal Randwick after accepting an offer to train in Hong Kong. Cummings flew to Hong Kong on Tuesday and will later this morning front a press conference in which the Hong Kong Jockey Club will confirm the trainer will move there for the start of the 2026-27 season. It's a real coup for Hong Kong racing to secure one of Sydney's most outstanding trainers. Cummings' tenure as Godolphin's private trainer comes to an end on July 31. It is understood he may take a 'sabbatical'' from training before he moves to Hong Kong next year. It is unclear whether Cummings will continue training Godolphin's Group 1 stars Tom Kitten and Zardozi and boom rising three-year-old filly Tempted for their spring carnival campaigns later this year. Cummings has been reconsidering his future since Godolphin Australia made a bombshell announcement recently it is moving to a public training model from August 1. The trainer had lodged an application to take over the vacant Leilani Lodge stables at Royal Randwick. The Australian Turf Club board of directors are due to meet this week to discuss which trainer will be allocated the 60-boxes at Leilani Lodge where Bart Cummings trained so successfully for more than 40 years. An original Hall of Fame inductee, Bart Cummings prepared some of his greatest champions out of Leilani Lodge including Saintly, So You Think, Beau Zam, Shaftesbury Avenue, Sky Chase, Campaign King, Dane Ripper and many others. The nation's leading trainer, Ciaron Maher is clear favourite to be given the keys to the Randwick stables which have been vacant since James's father, Anthony Cummings' licence to train was revoked earlier this year. James Cummings is only 37 years of age and has already trained 52 career Group 1 winners including two with his legendary grandfather, Bart. To put this achievement into context, Bart Cummings and Tommy Smith didn't train their 50th Group 1 winner until they turned 45. Chris Waller may rewrite all the training records but he didn't get to 50 big race wins until he was 42. In fact, the only other trainer to reach 50 Group 1 wins before the age of 40 was Lee Freedman who was 38. Cummings has been Godolphin's trainer since 2017 and has been hugely successful for the global racing and breeding giant, preparing 48 Group 1 winners for the 'Blue Army' and more than $200 million prizemoney. Anamoe has been Godolphin's best horse during the Cummings era winning nine Group 1 races including the 2022 Cox Plate and earning Horse of the Year honours in 2022-23. "IT'S ANAMOE'S GEORGE RYDER!" The champion did it tough today to win his 9th Group 1! @mcacajamez @JamesCummings88 @godolphin — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) March 18, 2023 Cummings trained a Golden Slipper quinella in 2019 with Kiamichi and Microphone, and the winners of the Golden Eagle (Colette, 2019), Doncaster Mile (Cascadian, 2021), Epsom Handicap (Hartnell, 2018), Tancred Stakes (Avilius, 2019) and two Golden Rose s with Broadsiding (2024) and Bivouac (2019). The champion trainer also enjoyed tremendous success for Godolphin interstate preparing the winners of the All Star Mile (Tom Kitten, 2025), two Australian Cup s (Cascadian 2023, 2024), three Newmarket Handicap s (Bivouac, 2020, In Secret, 2023 and Cylinder, 2024), two VRC Oaks (Zardozi, 2024 and Willowy, 2021), two Caulfield Guineas (Anamoe, 2021 and Golden Mile, 2022) and the Stradbroke Handicap (Trekking, 2019).
News.com.au
39 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Stefano Utoikamanu vows to make biggest impact possible for NSW after being recalled for game II
It's impossible to say whether Stefano Utoikamanu would have played State of Origin this year if he'd stayed at the Wests Tigers, but what he does know is that the move to Melbourne made him a better player and gave him a chance to win back his spot in the Blues team. Utoikamanu was in the squad for the series opener but will come off the bench in game two in Perth next week after starting prop Mitch Barnett was ruled out for the rest of 2025 with a serious knee injury. The injury has opened the door for Utoikamanu to revive his Origin career after he was given a taste of it in 2023, with his failure to be reselected allowing him to activate a clause to leave the Tigers at the end of last year to move to the Storm. 'It's hard to say. The Tigers are going better now than we were last year, so I wouldn't know,' he replied when asked if he'd be in the team if he was still at the Tigers. 'It was one of the things I looked at when I was going to leave the Wests Tigers. I feel like the Melbourne Storm have such a good system, and being in it now, I'm happy I made the move and happy to be here. 'There's a system there that's made a lot of players become better. A lot of players go there and become better, and there are a lot of teams you can't say that (about). 'Melbourne's one of those teams that when you go there you have to do the hard work. But once you do the hard work, you're going to become a better player.' Utoikamanu has produced fairly similar stats at the Storm to what he was doing at the Tigers, with the front-rower seeing the game differently under coach Craig Bellamy, who ripped into him after a couple of costly penalties at Magic Round. Plenty of people feel that Tigers prop Terrell May deserves to be in the NSW side, and the numbers suggest it should be a matter of if and not when he gets the chance to put on the jersey. But May will have to watch on as the man he replaced at the Tigers gets a second crack at it two years after his 13-minute cameo off the bench where he struggled to make an impact as the Blues were blown out in Brisbane. Reece Walsh and Jarome Luai were sent off that night as Utoikamanu came on five minutes before halftime, had six runs and was then dropped for the dead rubber. 'I've thought about that a lot,' he said. 'I didn't really get a real taste of getting in there. I played 12 or 15 minutes and it's pretty hard coming off the bench because you've got to make an impact. If you don't make an impact then there's not really any point you being out there. 'Coming off the bench you should be fresh and looking to give your team a bit of energy, especially in Origin. That's a big role to have coming off the bench and that's something I'll be looking to do in this game. 'I'm happy I get another opportunity to go in there and show them what I can actually do. That first time I felt like I didn't do what I needed to do. We lost that game, so I'm happy I get to come back, be around this group and show everyone what I can do.'
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Special Socceroos show yet more resilience, with FIFA World Cup hopes simmering nicely
Amidst the steamy euphoria of the Socceroos' direct qualification to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, coach Tony Popovic allowed himself a smile. And my word hasn't he earned it! But barely hidden in that smile was another layer of steely resolve that suggested this special Socceroos team was not done yet. "We've done the first part, qualifying automatically," Popovic told Paramount+ at full time of the Socceroos' come-from-behind 2-1 victory in Jeddah. "Now, the next part is to be bigger and better at the World Cup." Better may be subjective — personnel is unlikely to change dramatically in the next 12 months or so before the tournament kicks off — and in some regards, there is little to improve. World Cups are, of course, hard-won by some of the greatest names in world football with the sort of depth that Australian fans can only dream of. But tournaments are not the places to be flashy. Character matters almost as much as skill. The ability to respond to setbacks and bounce back from adversity is as prized as the mazy dribbling skills of Europe's best. Goal scorers Mitch Duke and Connor Metcalf both praised the character of the Socceroos in their post-match interviews, and it is that character that has managed to see them home and through to a sixth-successive final. "That's the mentality the boss has created within us, we didn't get phased by the one-goal deficit and we bounced back," Duke said. "This group is so special and so mentally tough," Metcalf added. "It's hard to beat us." "I think that's been a characteristic since the first day I arrived," added Popovic, who saw his charges come from a goal down in his very first game in charge against China, hold Japan to a draw in his second, rescue a point from a goal down in Bahrain in his fourth, and then record back-to-back wins over two of Asia's biggest teams in Japan and Saudi Arabia. "To show that character, resilience, to come back and win the game…" he added. "We've built a good foundation now." Popovic has every reason to be happy. He is now eight games unbeaten since taking over the job and has a sixth-consecutive World Cup qualification assured, turning a floundering ship away from the troubled waters they found themselves in at the start of qualification. Of course, not many of these matches have been of the free-flowing style that some may prefer. Indeed, of the eight matches Popovic has presided over, just three have seen the Socceroos hold the majority of possession, both home and away victories against China and the 2-2 draw in Bahrain in November. And yet, only twice have the Socceroos allowed more shots on target than they have managed themselves: In the 1-1 draw against Japan in Saitama — Japan had three shots on target to Australia's zero — and in Wednesday's victory over Saudi Arabia, when the Green Falcons managed six shots on goal to Australia's three. Indeed, the Socceroos have had fewer shots in total than their opponents in five of their eight matches under Popovic (with one level). But they've still not been beaten, their conversion rate is superb. After some wayward shooting in the first three matches under Popovic, when just six of the 32 shots the Socceroos had were on target for four goals, in the five matches since then, Australia has had 20 of its 35 shots on target and scored 12 goals. The six shots on goal that they conceded against Saudi Arabia in Jeddah was the same number as the previous three games combined. In short, the Socceroos are limiting guilt-edged chances for their opponents, and making the most of theirs. That's perfect tournament football. While the victory over Japan in Perth defined the very meaning of smash and grab, this victory over Saudi Arabia in the stifling humidity and heat of Jeddah was a triumph of planning and execution. Sure, Saudi Arabia dominated possession, and territory, and had twice as many shots on target as Australia, but given they needed to win big, that was to be expected. The Green Falcons needed goals, five of them to be exact, to knock Australia out of second spot on the table and steal the second direct qualification spot. And Popovic knew this — a resolute back five created a defensive shield that no manner of sprightly Saudi attacks could breach with the frequency they required, with Nashville midfielder Patrick Yazbek handed a first start to sit in front of that five in a defensive role to stymie the hosts' inventiveness. In the end, Yazbek was simply one member of a four-man midfield that, without the ball, sat deep and added another rampart to the Roos defence. Saudi Arabia was not to be denied, the brilliant Salem Al-Dawsari creating magic and dragging the Green Falcons into the lead early enough in the piece to create a murmur of concern through the Socceroos ranks. Conceding, given the situation, was not unexpected, but fighting back and taking the chances that came their way shows resilience and character in this team that proves it is capable of doing great things. "It's exciting," Popovic said. "We want to really get better, kick on and try and do something special at the World Cup. That should not be beyond the realms of possibility. With a solid foundation and a year of international windows for Popovic to trial new combinations without the pressure of needing wins, is another fairytale run in North America really beyond reach? The Socceroos are likely to be written off by the rest of the world. But as Japan and Saudi Arabia will tell them, this Socceroos team are far from being pushovers. Nobody is suggesting that the Socceroos head to this bloated, 48-team World Cup among the favourites. But football is a funny beast, and stranger things have happened, and few would relish the challenge of dismantling a defence that is likely to be bolstered by Harry Souttar's immense presence when he recovers from his Achilles tear. Dare to dream? That's the whole point, isn't it?
