50 Group 1 wins tastes sweet for Sugars

Greg Sugars admits he could never have imagined how much success would follow him through the early part of his harness racing career when he took up driving back in season 2000-01.

The master reinsman took a chance to reflect on his outstanding  journey after he chalked up a major milestone with Beyond Delight’s breathtaking win in the APG Gold Bullion Series 4YO Entires and Geldings Final at Menangle on Saturday night.

The result was Sugars’ 50^th Group 1 victory in Australia and 51^st overall when combined with Sushi Sushi’s Great Northern Derby triumph in New Zealand.

“I could never have dreamt this, the amount of success I’ve had in my career to date,” said Sugars, who claimed his first Group 1 win with My Missindependent in 2006.

“You just dreamed of being part of good races and it shocked me a little bit when I looked up the record and saw that I’ve had that many.

“It’s obviously what we aim to do as drivers, but it’s not a reality for a lot of people so it’s pretty special to think I’ve achieved that relatively young. Hopefully there’s plenty more to come.”

Since Sugars began driving just over two decades ago, he has more than 3500 wins and has collected in excess of $31million in prizemoney for connections.

With so many memorable elite level triumphs to choose from, Sugars found it hard to single out his most special big-race victory.

“New Zealand was awesome with Sushi, so that’s probably one of my career highlights really because it’s obviously a pretty hard thing to do,” he said.

“Not many Aussies go to New Zealand and win feature races. It just doesn’t happen very often at all.

“The more recent ones probably stick in your memory more and you forget things about what (others) meant to you at the time.

“The 2022 Chariots of Fire (with Better Eclipse) was pretty awesome, so that and probably Triple Eight (2021 VHRC Caduceus Classic). That was extremely emotional for me because it was the first one with (wife and trainer) Jess (Tubbs) and we were there together.

“They are probably the main ones that stick out and also the 2021 Inter Dominion of course (with Maori Law).”

Sugars, who rates a pacing Inter Dominion grand final and Miracle Mile as the races he most wants on his CV, will have five more chances for Group 1 glory when he fulfils a big book of drives on a massive card of feature racing at Melton on Saturday night.

by Tim O’Connor, for HRV