A breakdown of the world’s richestharness race, the TAB Eureka
by Adam Hamilton
The world’s richest harness race is almost as plentiful with great stories as it is prize money.
The $2.1 million TAB Eureka will be run for the third time at Sydney’s spacious Menangle 1,400-meter track on Saturday night (Sept. 6).
The most fascinating change this year is the majority of the field are 3-year-olds in a race restricted to Aussie-bred 3- and 4-year-old pacers.
Six of the 10 slot runners are sophomores, which smashes the previous most of just two in the inaugural 2023 TAB Eureka.
When The Lost Storm and Captain Hammerhead ran well down the track in seventh and ninth, respectively in 2023, many cried loudly that it was a waste of time running a 3-year-old against their older rivals.
But it only took 12 months and one horse to completely change that mindset.
Bay Of Biscay was the only 3-year-old to contest last year’s TAB Eureka and he rocketed home late for a luckless second to the star 4-year-old Don Hugo. The winner subsequently added wins in the Inter Dominion and Miracle Mile – two of Down Under’s iconic events.
Bay Of Biscay returns this year at 4, but he is just one of four of his age group in the race. The others are his stablemate Miki To Success, the big, raw and untapped Fighter Command, and talented Queenslander Call To Order.
For the record, Fighter Command was in the field as a 3-year-old last year, but fell ill and was scratched just days before it. Let’s start the breakdown of this year’s race with the Fighter Command story.
CHASING REDEMPTION
There is no bigger, better or more emotion-charged story than that of Fighter Command going into the race.
Not only was he scratched just days before he was due to tackle last year’s race, but the twisted bowel left him fighting for his life.
After a long break and meticulously comeback campaign, Fighter Command has returned, won his way into the TAB Eureka again through victory in Tasmanian’s “Beautide” qualifying race and gets his chance for redemption.
But one huge piece of the Fighter Command story won’t be there.
Greg Sugars, who openly described Fighter Command as his “project horse,” tragically and inexplicably passed away in his sleep at the age of just 40 in April.
His wife, Jess Tubbs, and great mate James Herbertson have carried on the project and will do so into the TAB Eureka. Tubbs as trainer and Herbertson as driver.
“It’s really exciting on so many levels to be going back and he’s as good as we can have him,” Tubbs said. “That said, he’s still a work in progress. He’s grown up a lot more since last year, but he’ll still be a lot better in another six to 12 months.
“He’s got the talent to win it and he won’t get another chance at a race with this sort of prize money, so we’ll hope he gets the right sort of luck and I’m sure he’ll run a big race.”
POWERHOUSE STABLE
Breaking records is nothing new for the powerhouse Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin stable.
They will break their own record for the number of starters by one stable in the TAB Eureka with four of the 10 runners on Saturday night.
Last year’s runner-up Bay Of Biscay was first in, then followed the in-form Miki To Success.
In the final few days of slot announcements, they snared the last two spots with untapped 3-year-olds Fox Dan and Go Miki.
It’s a race that means a lot to Stewart and Tonkin, who won the 2023 inaugural TAB Eureka with their former star mare Encipher.
“That’s as big a moment as we’ve had in the game,” Stewart said. “It was awesome with the huge and passionate crowd and a mare we absolutely loved.”
Stewart got Encipher’s name tattooed on her forearm to mark the occasion.
They had to be content with second (Bay Of Biscay) and third (High Above) last year. They set a then record with three runners with Major Delight finishing sixth.
“We’d love to go back and win it again,” Stewart said. “We’ve got the numbers and the right sorts of horses in what looks like a really open race this year.
“It’s really hard to split our four. How the race is run and who gets the right sort of trip, especially around Menangle will make all the difference.”
SENTIMENT COUNTS
Owners Danny and Jo Zavitsanos are tugging their own heart strings with Fox Dan in their TAB Eureka slot.
Amazingly, it’s the first time in the three years of the race “Team Zav” has used one of its own horses in the slot.
“If Jo had it her way, we’d pick one of ours every year, but we’ve tried to give ourselves the best chance of winning it,” Danny said. “This year the timing is right and we’ve got the right horses. There’s a couple we could’ve gone with, but Fox Dan it is and he’s a horse who means so much to us.
“We bred him and he’s out of the mare Jodila, the first horse I ever bought and raced.
“Winning the TAB Eureka would be amazing, but winning it with this guy would be a dream come true.”
CAN LUKE’S DOMINANCE CONTINUE?
Luke McCarthy’s greatness in the sulky knows no bounds.
So, it won’t surprise many people that he’s owned the TAB Eureka so far.
McCarthy landed the late pick-up drive to cause an upset on Encipher — who ran down champion pacer Leap To Fame — in 2023.
Last year he returned to win again, this time as trainer and driver aboard Don Hugo.
McCarthy’s hopes of completing an unthinkable hat trick and remaining unbeaten, sit with brilliant 3-year-old Hesitate, who heads in a daring first-up mission.
Hesitate hasn’t raced since finishing second in the Queensland Derby seven weeks ago, but his trial form has been strong.
Then again, Don Hugo won the race first-up from a five-week break last year.
CROSSING CODES
Hall of Fame Aussie thoroughbred trainer John Hawkes has propelled the PR around this year’s TAB Eureka to a new level.
Hawkes has raced a string of pacers over the past two decades, always saying, “the thoroughbreds are my work and harness racing is my passion.”
Exciting 3-year-old Seathestars, an impressive last-start Menangle winner, is Hawkes’ best pacer yet.
And he has a really serious chance of winning.
“He just keeps getting better with every run and, to be honest, he’s better than we thought he was going to be,” Hawkes said.
“I leave all the training and planning to Geoff [Webster, trainer], but this horse is giving us a fantastic ride.
“I watch all the big [thoroughbred] races from home these days, but I’m going to Menangle with family and friends.”
THIRD TIME LUCKY?
If you think having four of the 10 TAB Eureka runners is a huge achievement by one stable, then think about the fact it could easily have been one or two more.
In the words of Australia’s dominant trainer Emma Stewart, her two top TAB Eureka contenders are missing from the race as they recover from injury.
The unbeaten 3-year-old Always Hot and star mare Very Pretty would have been first and second favorites.
Both are owned by passionate owner/breeder Peter Gleeson, a mainstay of the Stewart and Tonkin stable.
Just when Gleeson thought his quest to win the TAB Eureka had been thwarted, along came the exciting 3-year-old Go Miki, who landed the last available slot in the race, that of race sponsor TAB.
“There’s no point wondering what might have been with the others, it’s just a thrill to have a runner and we think a lot of this fella,” Gleeson said.
“He might not have the profile of my other two, but he’s going places and he’s had a terrific build-up. We think he’ll run a great race with any luck.”
TAKE TWO
From the moment Bay Of Biscay escaped a pocket too late and flashed home for second to Don Hugo in last year’s TAB Eureka, his connections have been focused on just one race… this Eureka.
They declined an invitation to run in the $1 million Miracle Mile in March with the TAB Eureka in mind. It was a similar story with the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun in Brisbane in July.
He’ll become the first horse to contest the race twice and, on his best form, as hard to beat as any.
LET’S DO IT AGAIN
The post-race celebratory photos of Encipher’s historic win in the inaugural TAB Eureka hold pride of place for Jamie Durnberger-Smith and Aaron Bain, who used their Summit Bloodstock/Aaron Bain Racing slot on the mare.
It was a last-minute call and both say it’s a career highlight.
“That night was insane,” Durnberger-Smith said. “The huge crowd, the atmosphere, and the drama of getting her into the field so late and taking her in our slot.
“We love the TAB Eureka; we love all slot races for younger horses. We can’t wait to get back to try and win it again.”
Miki To Success, a stunning winner of the key lead-up race, the Racenet Discovery Stakes, last Saturday week, is racing in the Summit/Bain slot this time.
