He may be Western Australian owned, and trained in Victoria, but Fighter Command has a strong chance of representing Tasmania in next month’s TAB Eureka at Menangle.
The three-year-old gelded son of Always B Miki was bred in Tasmania, with all Tasbred three and four-year-olds eligible for Saturday night’s $80,000 Beautide in Hobart, where the winner secures Tasracing’s Eureka Slot.
Fighter Command is owned and bred by Peter Hayes, Murray James, David Maffey, Ken Armstrong, and Wayne Martins. The first trio of the ownership group raced his dam, Spitfire Rose, in Tasmania with great success. One of her feature wins came in the state’s premier mares race, the George Johnson, in 2016.
The Jess Tubbs-trained pacer has won seven of his 10 starts, including a track record win at Cranbourne two starts ago and a last-start win at Melton on 26 July, and his driver Greg Sugars is looking forward to Saturday’s race.
“He is a nice, promising horse in the stable. Having a venture and a crack at a race like this with a decent prize at the end of it is exciting,” said Sugars.
In three starts this preparation, the gelding has galloped in the score-up and caused a false start when first-up, and in his most recent start, he broke on the first turn.
“He is still a big baby and has a bit to learn. He certainly has a lot of ability. He is the type of horse we expect to continue to improve with more experience and the older he gets,” the driver said.
The plan for the Beautide has been in the pipeline since his fourth placing in a heat of the New South Wales Derby in early March.
“After the New South Wales Derby heat, we put him out, and Peter (Hayes) was keen to target this race, and the plan was put in place then.
Last year’s Beautide was a random barrier draw, which was changed to be drawn on age and sex this year after feedback from participants, and as a result, Fighter Command has drawn in barrier two.
“I think it’s perfect. He can get out of the gate alright when we want him to, and being barrier two is great. If things don’t work out early, then at least he is already in the running line and doesn’t have to work too hard or anything like that,” said the driver.
Fighter Command was expected to arrive in Tasmania on the Spirit Of Tasmania on Friday morning, where Claire MacDonald will oversee the pacer’s preparation heading into Saturday’s race. Sugars indicated the Tasmanian Derby and the three-year-old Tasbred series, the Globe Derby, are also potential options later in the season.
