Leap to Fame - Hunter Cup Presentation Photo by Dan Costello
AFTER a head-spinning 24 hours, the rematch between harness racing's biggest stars, Leap To Fame and Swayzee, is off, and neither will contest Saturday night's $100,000 Group 2 Redcliffe Cup.
The first shock came when reigning Blacks A Fake and NZ Cup winner Swayzee wasn't even among nominations for the Cup when they closed.
Trainer Jason Grimson "wasn't 100 per cent happy" with Swayzee after his narrow defeat by stablemate Nerano at Albion Park last Saturday night.
"I treated him for a virus after the race so that he couldn't run this week," Grimson said.
That dramatically changed the dynamic of the race and played a huge role in triggering the withdrawal of Leap To Fame from the Cup.
It was widely expected Leap To Fame and Swayzee would share a 20m handicap and the back-markers in the Group 2 feature.
But when Swayzee didn't nominate and some other proven open-class performers, headed by Luke McCarthy's Cantfindabettorman, opted to bypass the race as well, Racing Queensland's handicappers had a re-think.
"Following the close of nominations, Racing Queensland's handicappers assessed the field to be no stronger than the Flashing Red at Albion Park on June 8, which Leap To Fame won by 12m off a 20m handicap," Racing Queensland's senior harness manager David Brick said.
"Based on the quality of acceptors, Leap To Fame's Flashing Red victory against similar opposition, and recent form, which includes wins in the Miracle Mile and Hunter Cup, RQ's handicapping panel determined a 30m handicap was appropriate.
"RQ was subsequently advised by Leap To Fame's trainer, Grant Dixon, to withdraw the horse from the race."
Leap To Fame's owner, Kevin Seymour, said he felt for the Redcliffe club, but he and trainer-driver Grant Dixon had to put the horse first.
"We've been led to believe all along he wouldn't get more than a 20m handicap, which has been the case for the past 24 years in the Redcliffe Cup," he said.
"When Grant heard he would get 30m, he was upset and felt it was too big an ask around a (small and tight) track like Redcliffe.
"It's disappointing for us and disappointing for Bernie Ring and the club, too. We want to support the regional and country tracks, as we've shown by taking Leap To Fame to tracks like Redcliffe, Newcastle and Cranbourne over the past few months."
"But the horse will always come first, and I fully support Grant's decision to keep him home rather than start from a 30m handicap this week."
The decision not to run at Redcliffe also casts doubts over a planned trip to the iconic NZ Cup in Christchurch for Leap To Fame in November.
"Yes, I don't know where we stand on that now," Seymour said.
"The whole idea of running him as Redcliffe was to get the closest possible standing start experience to an NZ Cup and we won't get that now."
Importantly, Leap To Fame did win his only standing start race impressively in the Flashing Red at Albion Park on June 8.
* Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
