CHAMPION pacer Leap To Fame will head to New Zealand today at the top of his game.
Owner Kevin Seymour said he and trainer-driver Grant Dixon wouldn’t be chasing the iconic $NZ1 million NZ Cup on November 11 unless they felt they had the “best version” of Leap To Fame.
“I think we’ve shown before we’ll just pull the pin if we’ve got any doubts at all,” he said. “We did it last year and we’ve done it with other races.
“Sure, there’s been some ups and downs in Melbourne this trip, but Grant’s really happy with him now.
“That’s why we gave him that third run a week or so back. It really was a line in the sand race.
“Grant and Trista (Dixon, Grant’s wife) know this horse better than anyone. So, it was more how Grant felt he travelled in that last race and how he came through it.
“There’s no doubt he was just down a bit on his best in the first two (Melton) runs, but Grant said he felt a different horse last time.
“He owes us nothing. The thrills he’s given us and the great wins he’s had are amazing. We wouldn’t be taking him unless we were absolutely confident he was at his top.
“It’s even more the case with a tough race like the NZ Cup, over 3200m and against the best of the best.”
Seymour said uncertainty and apprehension had now turned to excitement.
“Yes, now he’s going and Grant’s so happy, we can start to get excited about being part of one of the best races in the world,” he said.
“For all of his great wins in Inter Dominions, a Miracle Mile and a Hunter Cup … and even that big Cambridge win earlier this year, there’s just something really special about an NZ Cup.
“It would certainly match anything, maybe even top them given the build-up and the stage the race is on.”
Australians will find it hard to believe, but the NZ Cup is the biggest race of any code in NZ and 25,000 fans will pack Addington to watch the Aussie champ.
Leap To Fame was as short as $1.40, but is now out to $2.
His task has been made a bit easier by the absence of his older half-brother, Swayzee, winner of the past two NZ Cups.
Swayzee’s interrupted campaign came to an end when he was scratched from a vital lead-up race at Menangle last night due to a cold.
It leaves just Leap To Fame and the emerging star Kingman, who upstaged Leap To Fame in the Group 1 Victoria Cup two starts back, to fly the Australian flag.
Kingman, who passed a crucial standing-start trial in fine style at Menangle last Wednesday, will arrive in Christchurch just hours before the Cup.
“That’s the way I want it,” trainer-driver Luke McCarthy said. “Swayzee did it and won last year. The flight leaves Sydney next Sunday morning, has the stopover in Auckland, and then we’ll be in Christchurch early Monday.
“I’d prefer to get there as close to the race as possible. He’s in the zone, still improving and has beaten Leap To Fame and Swayzee in his past two starts.”
Kingman is $4 second favourite with the best of the Kiwis, Republican Party, next at $5.
