Leap To Fame ID23 Photo by Dan Costello
LEVIATHAN owner Kevin Seymour almost didn't live to see his greatest moment of more than 50 years in harness racing.
Just four weeks before his champion pacer Leap To Fame won the sport's most treasured race, the Inter Dominion at Albion Park on Saturday night, Seymour had a heart attack and was rushed in for emergency treatment.
"They said I was just hours from being gone," Seymour revealed. "The artery was 99 per cent blocked, and as soon as my cardiologist saw how bad it was, he pulled his team together and rushed me into theatre. I was on death's door."
"I spent a week in hospital, and while I was recovering, I'd given up hope of seeing my great horse race in the Inter Dominion."
The shock revelation explains why Seymour's friends and family all said they had never seen him show such raw emotion in the moments after being trackside to watch Leap To Fame thrash his rivals and smash the track record on Saturday night.
"He kept it very quiet," Leap To Fame's trainer-driver Grant Dixon said.
"It's pretty amazing to see what this horse means to him."
Seymour was completely overcome by emotion and tears and could barely speak at the post-race presentation.
His wife, Kay, had to step in to thank Dixon, his wife Trista, and everyone behind Leap To Fame's win.
"I've had some great horses and won some big races, but this was by far the biggest and most special," Seymour said.
"This race had been front of mind for so long, in our own backyard, but I could see it passing by just a few weeks ago as I lay in hospital."
"So, to be well enough to get to the track and share in the win … you can see why I was overcome."
"He's the horse Kay and I have been dreaming of getting through 50 years in the game, and he'd just won the biggest race at our home track in front of a crowd who seem to love him almost as much as we do."
Dixon said he felt the energy and roar of the crowd as he "went for home" on Leap To Fame rounding the home bend.
"It just came at me, the noise, the roars. I've never felt anything like it in harness racing before. It feels pretty special to be part of a horse who has captured the public's support like him, and he's still got it all ahead of him," he said.
"He's the sort of horse who can take the game outside its own bubble if he stays sound for another couple of years."
Dixon said Leap To Fame would have a week off while he and his family had a short holiday over Christmas, and then plans would be finalised for major races early next year.
Seymour confirmed the Miracle Mile was "an absolute given because I've never won it", and the Hunter Cup in early February also looms large.
"Just give Grant and I about a week or so to weigh everything up, but he's born for a staying race like the Hunter Cup as he showed with a track record over the long distance in this (Inter Dominion) final," Seymour said.
Leap To Fame's older half-brother Swayzee, who did the work outside him and ran a brave third, is heading for a spell and will miss the Hunter Cup and Miracle Mile.
"He's having a long break," trainer Jason Grimson said. "We'll focus on getting him back well into next year."
· Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
