Leap To Fame winning the 2026 Cranbourne Cup
LEAP To Fame’s greatness can be defined in so many ways.
His Australasian record $5,169,359 in prize money, his 63 wins, including 13 at Group 1 or just the way he does most of the work in the biggest races against the best horses and still wins more often than not.
But the statistic that best underlines how he is a generational great is how many track records he holds.
Leap To Fame currently boasts 10 track records across six different tracks and he has also been part of the set-up another two track records in races he has finished a close second in.
As you would expect, his greatest dominance is his own backyard at Albion Park where he holds five track records, four from a mobile start over 1660m, 2138m, 2680m and 3157m, as well as the 2647m standing start record.
Also in Queensland, he holds the record Redcliffe’s 2280m at 1min53.4sec.
Leap To Fame has two benchmarks in Victoria, the Ballarat 2710m record and the 2555m at Cranbourne, which he bettered his own record with last Saturday night’s epic 1min55.1sec after sitting outside Kingman.
Despite being seen more as a stayer, Leap To Fame’s 1min49sec flat is a track record for 1609m at Newcastle.
Across the ditch, that mind-blowing win in last year’s Race by betcha at Cambridge – when he again sat outside the leader – was a record at 1min52.3sec for 2200m.
It’s also worth noting, when Swayzee smashed Melton’s 2760m track record with that amazing 1min51,9sec in last year’s Hunter Cup, Leap To Fame did the grunt work outside him and ran second.
And it was a similar story at Shepparton last month when Kingman took almost two seconds off the 2690m track record with his 1min53.9sec and Leap To Fame again did the work outside him and ran second.
It will be a shock if Leap To Fame doesn’t add an 11th track record to his CV if he wins Saturday night’s $150,000 Group 1 Kilmore Cup.
Outlaw Man’s current 1min54.2sec mark for Kilmore’s 2180m is almost arm-up speed for Leap To Fame.
Here’s a look at his record-breaking haul:
LEAP TO FAME – THE RECORD BREAKER
CURRENT TRACK RECORDS
Albion Park 1660m 1min48.6sec
Albion Park 2138m 1min51sec
Albion Park 2680m 1min52.8sec (equal with Don Hugo)
Albion Park 3157m 1min57.7sec
Albion Park 2647m (standing start) 1min55.5sec
Ballarat 2710m 1min54.4sec
Cambridge (NZ) 2200m 1min52.3sec
Cranbourne 2555m 1min55.1sec
Newcastle 1609m 1min49sec
Redcliffe 2280m 1min53.4sec
TRACK RECORDS HE SET-UP
Melton 2760m Swayzee 1min51.9sec (Leap To Fame second)
Shepparton 2690m Kingman 1min53.7sec (Leap To Fame second)
PHOTO: Stuart McCormick
