JUST how 2026 looks for champion pacer Leap To Fame will be decided he tackles Saturday night’s Christmas Cup at Albion Park.
Owner Kevin Seymour said he and trainer-driver Grant Dixon had agreed to “put everything on hold” for another week.
“He came through the Blacks A Fake run so well and this race was here and over a suitable distance for him this week,” he said.
“It’s a really busy start to 2026, so we have lots of thinking to do and not much time to do it.
“We’ll get through this week and map out how those first few months of next year look.
“Obviously, there’s the big races, headed by the Hunter Cup, in Victoria and then the Miracle Mile and the slot races.
“What I can say is that Grant and I are as keen as each other to go back to Cambridge, so you can put a ring around their big slot race for him in April.”
Leap To Fame scored one of the biggest and most dominant wins of his career in the $NZ1 million Race by betcha at Cambridge earlier this year.
“It’s hard to do everything, especially when there’s the Inter Dominion here (Brisbane) again next July,” Seymour said.
“I’m mindful Grant and Trista (Dixon) have a big team of horses and a young family and big chunks of time away for Grant isn’t ideal.
“Let’s get through this week and we’ll share our plans.”
Seymour said he felt a mixture of disappointment and pride after Leap To Fame’s narrow defeat in last Saturday night’s $250,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake behind Don Hugo.
“You feel for Grant and the horse because he went so well and just got beaten,” he said.
“Then you look back on the race and realise how big he went and all the extra ground he covered. It was an enormous run.
“I think it showed the horse is going as well as ever, despite what some people seem to think.”
Seymour’s stance on the Blacks A Fake run was backed up by Jeroen Nieuwenberg’s “Sulky Sectionals” on the race.
“Terrific Blacks A Fake edition. Well done Luke (McCarthy) with Don Hugo, probably Leap To Fame’s best ever performance considering he ran +34m (covered 34 metres extra),” Sulky App stated.
Seymour applauded McCarthy, who has now beaten Leap To Fame four times this year with two different pacers, Don Hugo and Kingman.
“Credit to Luke, who again showed he is one of the best horsemen and great tacticians of our time,” he said.
“He had the draw with Don Hugo and executed a plan which just edged us out on the night.”
PHOTO: Dan Costello
