CHAMPION pacer Leap To Fame’s long-awaited NZ Cup raid is in limbo.
Trainer-driver Grant Dixon raised serious doubts on the trip after the Leap To Fame was beaten into third place in last Saturday night's $250,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup at Melton.
It’s just the first time in almost two years Leap To Fame has lost twice in a row.
“He didn’t travel as well as he usually does in his races,” Dixon said. “He seems to have come through it well, but we've had a blood taken and we'll see if that shows anything.
"If his bloods are ok, we will still make a call on NZ by the end of this week. I'm not letting it go down to the last few days like last year.
"I'd say it's a genuine 50-50 whether he will go."
Leap To Fame was $1.60 favourite to win the iconic $NZ1 million NZ Cup before the Victoria Cup.
The six-year-old certainly wasn’t disgraced last, but it was evident a long way out he was under pressure and emerging star Kingman quickly dashed past him in the home straight. He was beaten 6.7m.
It could be the second time in as many years Leap To Fame’s NZ Cup raid has been scrapped.
He was a raging hot favourite last year before a throat infection forced him out of both the Victoria and NZ Cups.
Dixon's alternative is to skip NZ, return to his Queensland stables and switch focus to the $250,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake in his own backyard at Albion Park on December 6.
There are also doubts on champion NSW stayer Swayzee’s quest for a record-equalling third successive NZ Cup.
His owner Mick Boots said Swayzee had been struggling with a bowel infection, but trainer Jason Grimson later said he believed the rising eight-year-old would make the trip.
Grimson plans to take Swayzee and last night’s gallant Victoria Cup runner-up, Hi Manameisjeff, to NZ.
The injury plagued Hi Manameisjeff will target the Group 1 NZ free-for-all on November 14.
Swayzee will get the chance to show where he’s at in the Beersheba free-for-all at Menangle thisSaturday night.
Kingman, who upstaged his older rivals for the biggest win of his career in Saturday night's Victoria Cup, will also travel, but to Queensland for the Blacks A Fake.
“Someone asked about the NZ Cup, but it’s come around a bit soon this year,” trainer-driver Luke McCarthy said.
“I’d love to take him to a race like that, but next year will suit him better.
“I’m setting him for the Blacks A Fake and then I’ll bring him back here (Victoria to chase the big bonus they have on the country cups in January-February.”
The bonus is $A1 million for any horse who can win three of the first five country cups and add the Group 1 Hunter Cup at Melton on February 14.
Kingman’s win was his fifth in just seven starts since joining McCarthy’s stable.
It adds to McCarthy’s powerhouse stable with reigning Miracle Mile champion Don Hugo close to returning to racing.
“I’ll keep them apart for now. Don Hugo can go through the NSW Carnival of Cups races at home,” he said.
“It won’t be until the Hunter Cup or maybe even the Miracle Mile when they’ll clash.”
