Jess Tubbs will return to the scene of the greatest night of her career without her best mate and sparring partner.

It was 19 months ago when Tubbs and husband, Greg Sugars, dominated the sport’s biggest night at Albion Park by winning the 2023 Inter Dominion final with the great Just Believe and having Better Eclipse chase champion Leap To Fame into second place in the pacing final.

It was Just Believe’s second successive Inter Dominion win and a night for both to reflect on two years of a concerted and deliberately obsessive focus on their horses at the expense themselves.

Just Believe retired early this year as one of the greatest trotters this part of the world has seen and Better Eclipse just missed qualifying for Saturday night’s pacing final, but such is the depth of Tubbs’ stable, she has star mare Rakero Rebel in the $1 million pacing decider.

This time she’s done it alone.

The Australasian harness racing industry was devastated by shock and sadness when the fit, healthy and just 40-year-old Sugars was found in a Sydney hotel room less than three months ago. He died in his sleep.

Sugars was a champion driver with over 4000 wins, including 70 at Group 1 level. Together, he and Tubbs had rapidly grown into a training juggernaut, too.

"Greg was the dreamer and ideas man, I was the practical one. We complemented each other like that," Tubbs said.

“None of this has the same meaning without him. I’m still getting used to it, everything reminds me of him.

“I’ve come to Queensland and I’m staying in the unit he was in last time. Nobody’s stayed in it since he was here so some of the things are still here, even his face wash is in the shower.

“We are supposed to share moments like this (Saturday night). We’d consciously made a decision a few years ago to throw everything into the horses because we had such a good team, but we weren’t oblivious to the toll it was taking on us personally. There was a year where Greg was away travelling for six months with the horses.

“The saddest part is that we’d done those hard yards. We’d agreed this was to be a year of enjoying things and doing more things together, outside of the horses. To invest in ourselves and our relationship.

“People ask if I feel angry because of that, but all I feel is immense loss and sadness. My other half isn’t there.

“I trained a double at Melton the other week and came home to an empty house, instead of cooking up something to eat, watching the replays and having a laugh with Greg. That’s the hardest part, the loneliness when we were so close.”

Tubbs knows she may never learn how Sugars died.

“Nothing came out in the preliminary report and it could be nine to 18 months before I get a report from the coroner, but they’ve told me to prepare so that I may never know the cause," she said.

“I take comfort from the fact he was happy, calm and asleep when it happened. He’d had a good day, we’d been texting and calling about how much he was looking forward to racing the horses (at Menangle) the next day.

“I’m sad, not angry. I know how much Greg would hate the situation he’s left me in, after spending so much of his life working hard to set us both up.”

How and when Tubbs learned of Sugars’ death was the hardest part.

“So many people seemed to know before me and it was starting to be talked about by the time the police actually arrived at my door to confirm my worst fears," she said.

“It became so public so quickly and there were rumors and speculation and my phone didn’t stop ringing. I felt I had to post what I knew on social media so I could get some privacy, but that was harrowing because I hadn’t processed it myself.”

A big team of horses, staff and owners at Larajay Farm have given Tubbs a focus and purpose through her darkest hours.

“This is what I need to do for now, but I don’t know what the future holds in years to come because this is such a hard and brutal industry,” she said.

“I gave up a corporate job to go full time at this with Greg because he couldn’t do it by himself, so I don’t know how I’m going to cope.

“But for now the horses are my priority and we’ll go to Albion Park on Saturday night with so many memories of Greg coming back and hoping our lovely mare (Rakero Rebel) can give us all something to cheer about.”

It’s part of a big week for Tubbs with Just Believe becoming only the second harness horse to spend his retirement at the famed Living Legends alongside star thoroughbreds like Chautauqua, Prince Of Penzance, Pakistan Star and others.

“It’s lovely for harness racing to be recognised and have Sundons Gift and now ‘Harry’ (Just Believe’s stable name) part of Living Legends,” she said.