Betterthancheddar gelding rising right to the top

Better Eclipse took out the 2021 Slingsby Holdings Carousel Final when only a three-year-old on Inter Dominion Grand Final night last December.

It was at that point that the gelding’s regular driver Greg Sugars began thinking that maybe he and his partner Jess Tubbs possibly had their hands on a potential Grand Circuit performer.

Trained by Tubbs, the son of Betterthancheddar defeated a quality field in that Carousel final and history has shown that the winners of this time-honoured feature have gone onto bigger and better things.

But it was probably beyond the wildest dreams of connections and those who follow the sport that Better Eclipse would scale the heights that he has so quickly.

Fast-forward nine weeks, after a grueling campaign in the Vicbred Series the now four-year-old returned to Tabcorp Park Menangle to contest the Paleface Adios Sprint and a fourth placing in that event earned him a spot in the Chariots of Fire.

Heading into the Chariots, Sugars firmly believed that his horse was not just there to make up the numbers and after drawing barrier one, Better Eclipse secured a perfect trip on the back of a frantic speed and stormed home to win, justifying the ace reinsman’s faith in the pacer.

“We knew with the right run in transit that he was good enough to win the Chariots of Fire,” said Sugars.

“And everything panned out perfectly for us and I guess, as they say, the rest is history.

“It was certainly exciting to win such a big race, but we also knew that by winning it, we had secured automatic entry into the Miracle Mile ,which was just as big a thrill.

“We are well aware that we have the odds stacked against us as our bloke goes into Saturday night’s race as one of the more inexperienced horses in the race and he has also drawn the extreme outside gate.

“But Jess and I are absolutely honoured to have a runner in the Mile and whatever happens we will be justly proud of him.”

By Michael Dumesny for HRNSW