Leading Victorian harness racing driver Greg Sugars had an armchair ride when he was successful in the 2019 Wedderburn Pacing Cup on Sunday with rising star Emain Macha.
After winning the start, Sugars rated the pacer to perfection over the marathon 2555m event, to post a new track record of 1.57, on the half mile circuit, in north central Victoria.
“I didn’t know we were scooting along that quick – Emain Macha felt terrific and he really did it quite comfortably,” Sugars said.
“When I heard the time, I was blown away. It was honestly a huge surprise.”
In a strange twist, Perspective who was runner-up to Emain Macha, previously held the track record of 2.00-5, set in the cup 12 months earlier.
Sugars said while the track was in excellent condition, Emain Macha is low-flying at the moment.
“He has been going enormous with four wins and a second leading up to the Cup – and the second placing was at Shepparton behind a fairly handy performer in Buster Brady, trained by Kima Frenning.”
Emain Macha (Safari-Machabella (Mach Three), prepared by Greg Scholefield, has an excellent race record of 24 wins and eight placings from just 37 starts for over $160,000.
Sugars, who has now driven the five-year-old to 10 of his wins, said there was exciting times ahead for the horse, known around the stables as “Fritz”.
“Greg (the trainer) has done a remarkable job with Emain Macha. He’s placed him well and has him in tip-top racing condition,” Sugars said.
“There’s nothing mapped out for him at the moment. Greg told me he would now sit down and have a look at what’s around.”
Sugars, who has won the Mildura Guineas and Mark Gurry and Associates Cup at the popular Mildura Pacing Cup carnival with Emain Macha, is hopeful the two may team up again in April for the “big one” in the Northern Region.
The Mildura Pacing Cup, worth $60,000, is run in what is now a rare format for country cups – qualifying heats run on April 9 and the final on April 13.
Sugars said that after winning the Gurry feature event two years ago, Emain Macha contracted a virus and ended up in a very bad way.
The virus got worse and then Emain Macha came down with bronchitis. He lost a lot of weight, had swelling in all four feet and it was a battle to save him.
Part-owner-trainer Greg Scholefield admitted at the time they were close to losing him but praised local vet Tony Tully who put “Fritz” on a course of drugs with which he slowly pulled through.
Scholefield, who has a small team in training, has always been involved in horses, dating back to riding ponies in his younger days.
The Wedderburn Cup victory was the second leg of a winning double for Sugars, who scored earlier in the day with Soul Writer (Sportswriter-Soul In Art (Art Major) for Justin Torney is in the Randall’s Foodworks Pace.
Ballarat trainer Zac Steenhuis took out the $14,500 Wedderburn Trotters Cup when Jerichos Trumpet (Shadow Play-All In Good Time (Fake Left) landed the money following late support on fixed odds.
Driven by junior reinsman Ryan Duffy, the trotter was most impressive, coming wide late after blowing the start.
Club secretary Tom Nisbet said the meeting, one of only two conducted at Wedderburn each season, was a huge success.
“The tote was up by $3000 on last year, while the bookies were up by $2000,” Nisbet said.
“We had a big crowd with plenty of support from the locals and sold nearly 200 membership tickets.”
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura