Leap To Fame after winning the 2024 Newcastle Mile. Photo by Newcastle
FOR the second year in succession Hunter Valley harness racing fans will be treated to watching Australia’s reigning horse of the year Leap To Fame strut his stuff when he contests tonight’s Group 2 $150,000 AVE Technologies Newcastle Mile.
Following the same path that led to him taking out the 2024 Garrards Miracle Mile at Menangle, the Grant Dixon-trained stallion will be aiming to go back-to-back in Newcastle’s feature sprint.
‘Larry’ as he is affectionally known, has had an almost flawless campaign this preparation, his only defeat coming at the hands of his older half-brother Swayzee in Victoria’s A. G. Hunter Cup on February 1.
But in that defeat, he certainly lost no admirers after doing a tonne of work over the 2760m trip to only go down by a head margin.
Leap To Fame followed that with an emphatic win in the Cranbourne Cup before returning home to Queensland for a quick freshen-up and Dixon believes his champion is primed to defend his crown in both the Newcastle and Miracle Mile.
In an interview with Chris Barsby on Queensland radio this week, Dixon expressed his desire to keep things as simple as possible for Leap To Fame with a carbon copy path into the Miracle Mile.
“He handled Newcastle perfectly last year, and it is not a bad trip down the freeway from home, so that’s the plan we put in place for him,” said Dixon.
“He has coped well with the travelling to Victoria and back and I have to say that he is a very seamless horse to train.
“We will just keep him ticking over in preparation for Friday night.”
Although Leap To Fame is ideally drawn in gate five, Dixon is not taking things lightly, adamant that they will not get it all their own way against a field of in-form horses, identifying Max Delight as a major threat.
“We know it is going to be tough, there are some really nice horses in the race,” he said.
“Shannon Price’s gelding Sure Thing Captain ran a cracking trial at Albion Park last week and Max Delight was so impressive winning at Menangle on Saturday night when he clocked 1.48.8 and he looks to be in the best form of his career.”
It does appear that Majordan’s Newcastle track record of 1.50.7 will be under threat tonight.
