{"id":53424,"date":"2025-04-27T00:28:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T00:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/53424\/"},"modified":"2025-04-27T00:28:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T00:28:15","slug":"racing-world-in-mourning-after-shock-death-of-much-loved-champion-greg-sugars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/53424\/","title":{"rendered":"Racing world in mourning after shock death of &#8216;much-loved champion&#8217; Greg Sugars"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>Decorated trainer and driver Greg Sugars has died\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>Sugars passed away in his sleep aged just 40<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-143\/james-cooney.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">JAMES COONEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  19:06 EDT, 26 April 2025   |  Updated:  19:09 EDT, 26 April 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In a shocking blow to the Australian harness racing community, celebrated trainer and driver Greg Sugars has passed away unexpectedly aged just 40.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The well-known trainer and driver died in his sleep after driving to <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/new-south-wales\/index.html\" id=\"mol-2a1ea700-22f1-11f0-a554-7b5784c8f4e2\" rel=\"noopener\">New South Wales<\/a> on Saturday to ready his team to race at Menangle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">His wife, Jess Tubbs, announced the shocking news on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;With an absolutely shattered heart that doesn&#8217;t want to believe it&#8217;s possibly true, I need to share the news that Greg passed away in his sleep last night,&#8217; Jess wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He had excitedly driven our team to NSW yesterday, with none of us possibly predicting this was in our future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;His beloved son Harvey doesn&#8217;t yet understand that dad won&#8217;t be home to take him to Puppy School Graduation on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-80fb75320498021a\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97737487-14651585-image-a-17_1745708325486.jpg\" height=\"715\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Celebrated trainer and driver Greg Sugars has passed away unexpectedly aged just 40\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Celebrated trainer and driver Greg Sugars has passed away unexpectedly aged just 40<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-59ea6be9dcb1950c\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97737493-14651585-image-a-18_1745708329578.jpg\" height=\"637\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The legendary horseman died in his sleep after driving to New South Wales on Saturday\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The legendary horseman died in his sleep after driving to New South Wales on Saturday<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;We are heartbroken and very much still processing everything so some time and space will be appreciated.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Harness Racing Victoria decided to cancel its meeting Saturday night in Melton &#8216;out of respect for Greg and his family&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Harness Racing Victoria extends its deepest condolences to the Sugars family, Jess Tubbs, and all fellow participants following the heartbreaking news of Greg Sugars&#8217; passing,&#8217;\u00a0Harness Racing Victoria said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Tributes for Sugars have flooded social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Words simply aren&#8217;t enough when you hear a story like this one. Greg Sugars had so much more to give. Condolences to the harness racing family,&#8217; posted broadcaster Andrew Bensley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">SEN radio boss Craig Hutchison posted: &#8216;Devastated to learn tonight of the passing of Greg Sugars. Shattering. Much loved and respected champion driver in the trots world; thoughts of SEN&#8217;s entire team entire team are with Jess, his family, and everyone at HRV. A wonderful man, taken so young. RIP.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Adam Hamilton posted: &#8216;The feeling of devastation is immense. The pain through the harness racing industry around the world is immeasurable. What a talent. What a star. What a passionate and wonderful man. RIP Greg Sugars.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Sky racing wrote: &#8216;We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of champion harness trainer\/driver Greg Sugars. Our thoughts are with the Sugars family in this incredibly tough time.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" align=\"center\" wp_automatic_readability=\"9.7535410764873\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\" xml:lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\">We are deeply shocked and saddened to hear of Greg Sugars&#8217; passing.<\/p>\n<p>Greg will be remembered as one of the sport&#8217;s legendary trainers and drivers, and we were privileged to see him at his best behind Just Believe in the 2023 Inter Dominion. <\/p>\n<p>RQ extends its condolences to Jess\u2026 <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eqa0cBZRvF\">pic.twitter.com\/eqa0cBZRvF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Racing Queensland (@Racing_QLD) <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Racing_QLD\/status\/1916058702806978728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-dnt=\"true\" align=\"center\" wp_automatic_readability=\"6.4615384615385\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\" xml:lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\">SENTrack is saddened to hear of the passing of Greg Sugars. Our thoughts are with the Sugars family, Jess Tubbs, and all fellow participants. <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CAAgUAlfwl\">pic.twitter.com\/CAAgUAlfwl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SENTrack (@SEN_track) <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SEN_track\/status\/1916074943940350316?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-e5d16a32a255863f\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97737495-14651585-image-a-19_1745708336102.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The harness racing world is in mourning following the news of his tragic passing\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The harness racing world is in mourning following the news of his tragic passing<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Sugars, the son of decorated former trainer Ross Sugars, was very well-known in the world harness racing ranks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Earlier this year, he had called time on the stunning career of his global trotting champion Just Believe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Sugars trained a remarkable 4028 winners at the time of his death, 64 of those at group 1 level.<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Racing world in mourning after shock death of &#8216;much-loved champion&#8217; Greg Sugars<\/p>\n<p>        <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Decorated trainer and driver Greg Sugars has died\u00a0 Sugars passed away in his sleep aged just 40 By&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[92,2048,1071,93,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-53424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-new-south-wales","10":"tag-racing","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114407100177438274","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}