Kylie Sugars takes up ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity

Victorian trainer Kylie Sugars is set to embark on what she describes as an “opportunity of a lifetime” as head trainer for the quality harness racing stable of passionate owner-breeder Frank Jessup.

Jessup advertised in November for expressions of interest from experienced trainers to prepare his team at the family’s picturesque property in prime Victorian horse country at Nagambie, offering the opportunity for the trainer to bring along a small existing team.

“I was doing a bit of a late-night scroll on Facebook and that was the first thing to pop up on my feed – it just jumped out at me.  I read it and just couldn’t get it out of my head,” Sugars said.

“Opportunities like that just don’t come along.  I’ve wanted to train my own team for a long time and for someone to offer the chance for a ready-made team, a great property and to be able to bring my own few horses along – it was once in a lifetime,” she said.

When she makes the move to Nagambie on Friday, Sugars will take with her a highly-credentialled stable foreman in her dad Ross.

Ross Sugars, the son of late South Australian Hall of Famer Len, was a dominant force in South Australian harness racing through the 1980s and ‘90s before he and wife Kerry moved to Victoria in the early 2000s for better opportunities on the eastern seaboard.  The shift certainly played a major role in igniting the career of son, Greg, who operates one of Victoria’s leading stables with wife, Jess.

“Dad helps me out with my horses, and I showed him the ad the next morning,” Kylie said.

“Later in the day I asked him what he thought about it, and he said he hadn’t stopped thinking about it all day. We decided ‘it’s now or never’!” she said.

The 40-year-old has enjoyed good success over the years with small teams, most notably a Gr 3 Tabcorp Park Cup with Lord Monaloo (It Is I) and the Gr 3 DNR Logistics Vulcan Trot with Sammy Showdown (Bacardi Lindy) in 2020. But she has had only a couple of horses in work recently.

“Safe to say we will be stepping up the pace from Friday! The property is fantastic – we can just hang up the gear and get started. Frank has invested heavily in the industry, and he just wants to reap the rewards – so that’s what we’ll be aiming to do,” Kylie said.

Frank Jessup grew up in the Footscray area where his uncle Victor Malney, who he describes as like a father, bred a small team.

“He had Honorable Son, a son of Caduceus, then bred Honourable Guy (Honorable Son) and also Ima Bulldog (Honourable Guy).  Those horses raced back in the Melbourne Showgrounds days, and I just loved it.  There were thousands of people there right around the track and just so many bookmakers.  There was a real atmosphere about it, and that’s how I first got into the sport,” Jessup said.

“I got a trainer’s licence when I was 18 but I only had it for a couple of years.  Honourable Guy had broken down at that stage and I did rehab with him; iced him and took him swimming, but ultimately, he broke down again,” he said.

“I wasn’t in it then for years, running our business with my uncle and then raising three daughters, but we’ve still got the original old stables on our property in Ballarat Road, Footscray.

“Then about 15 years ago I got a call from a friend who had a broodmare and foal on a stud and needed some funds to get the horses released.

“I put up the money and he gave me the foal. It turned out to be Stretch the Budget (Sundon), which won the VicBred 3yo Trotters Super Series final in 2006.  So then I was back into it.  I just love it, and our daughter Chantel is involved now too.

“We just want to see our horses get their best opportunity from someone committed to getting the best from them.  I think we’ve got that with Kylie and Ross and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.”

Jessup has enjoyed success in recent weeks with horses he has bred in Super Service (Majestic Son), Momentum Swing (Vincent) and Kimcando (American Ideal) all of which will find their way into the care of the Sugars team.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink