Some wins just mean more.
While Victorian young gun James Herbertson charges towards another runaway win in the Australian Drivers’ Premiership, this won’t be a year to treasure.
Back in April, Herbertson lost his idol with the passing of Greg Sugars.
At the time, he said: “Greg was another father, a mentor and idol … Greg, you’ll never know the pedestal I had you on.”
Since then, Herbertson has been an enormous support for Sugars’ widow, Jess Tubbs.
It goes way beyond driving Tubbs’ horses and helping when needed. They have a bond, which is all about honouring Sugars.
Last Friday, that bond produced something special.
Sugars would have been looking down with a smile when Tubbs and Herbertson combined to win the $NZ500,000 The Ascent on the Friday of the iconic NZ Cup Week at Addington in Christchurch.
The result came 12 months after Tubbs and Sugars combined at the same track to win the Group 1 Dominion Trot with Just Believe. It was one of the champion trotter’s defining wins and, ultimately, the last of his amazing career.
It meant the world to Tubbs and Sugars.
So did last Friday to Herbertson and Tubbs.
“It’s the best moment I’ve had in the game,” Herbertson said. “A race with that prizemoney, of that calibre and on such a great stage as NZ Cup Week … but best was winning with Jess after the year she’s had. It meant everything.”
That emotion when Herbertson was being interviewed by Trackside’s Brittany Graham moments after the win and Tubbs walked in to give him a big hug is etched in history.
They’d done it.
They team up again tonight to try and add to the magic of the trip with Tracy The Jet in the $NZ120,000 Group 1 NZ Trotting Oaks.
Herbertson wouldn’t miss it.
But it’s just the first leg of a potential international Group 1 double for Herbertson and Tubbs.
Herbertson will be on the first flight out of Christchurch back to Melbourne tomorrow morning to drive the Tubbs-trained Howdy Mate in the Group 1 Vicbred Super Series final for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings at Melton.
Fittingly, Graham, who did that superb interview last Friday and is a close friend of Tubbs, is a part-owner of Howdy Mate. So too is another female harness racing powerhouse, the US-based trainer Nancy Takter.
Howdy Mate looks like a star in the making himself.
Since being gelded, he has become one of the best juvenile trotters in the land with wins at his past three starts, including the big Nutrien Classic Final at Melton on September 13.
Just like Herbertson, Graham and Takter have been two “rocks” for Tubbs since she lost Sugars.
All four teaming up to win a Vicbred final would be something special.
