LEVIATHAN owner Kevin Seymour says young superstar Leap To Fame is the “horse I’ve been dreaming of.”
And respected former Canadian administrator and media man Greg Gangle believes Leap To Fame is the best pacer in the world.
The lavish words came after Leap To Fame scored a mesmerizingly arrogant win and obliterated the track record in last night’s Patron’s Purse at Redcliffe.
Horses shouldn’t be able to do what he did around the small, triangular Redcliffe track.
Leap To Fame sat last in the big field, came three-wide from the 900m,was shoved four-wide at the 350m and still cleared out to win by almost six metres, seemingly without being fully extended by trainer-driver Grant Dixon.
“He’s the best horse in the world right now,” Gangle said.
Not many people are better qualified to make such a big call given Gangle’s expertise on North American and Australasian harness racing.
Leap To Fame’s 1min53.4sec mile rate for 2280m smashed the track record set last year by Manila Playboy at 1min55.8sec,
Seymour said: “Absolutely amazing. We’ve got a lot to look forward to. No wonder they call him the ‘freak from the creek’.
“After 51 years in the game, this is the horse I’ve been dreaming of.”
The son of Bettors Delight, who won three major Derbys last season, is unbeaten in three runs this season and his 26 lifetime starts have netted 20 wins, four seconds and a third.
Leap To Fame’s next major target is the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun at Albion Park on July 8.
“We’ll then go to the Blacks A Fake (July 22) against the older horses,” Seymour said.
Beyond that, Leap To Fame is the prepost favourite for the world’s richest harness race, the inaugural $2.1mil TAB Eureka (2400m) at Menangle on September 2.
Dixon has openly declared Leap To Fame the best pacer he’s trained since winning the NSW Derby early last year.
But Dixon also had plenty to do with Queensland’s greatest ever pacer, four-time Inter Dominion hero Blacks A Fake, and comparisons with him are sure to come soon.
