Leap To Fame winning the 2024 Miracle Mile
CHAMPION pacer Leap To Fame will miss the $1 million Miracle Mile at Menangle next month.
It’s the first time in three years the seven-year-old won’t headline Australasia’s premier speed test, having won it in 2024 and finish second last year.
Despite Leap To Fame’s great record in the race, trainer-driver Grant Dixon conceded Leap To Fame is better suited in middle distance or staying races rather than a mile sprint.
“He can win it, as his record shows, but he doesn’t have the (early) gate speed of some others and that makes it hard,” he said.
“I don’t think he could sit in the death (outside the leader) and win a race like that, given the time they’ll run.
“His great strength is how long he can sustain high speed for, so the longer the races, the better it suits him.”
Despite that, many expected Leap To Fame to try and qualify for the Miracle Mile through next Friday’s $100,000 Newcastle Mile, a race he has won over the past two years.
“He’s definitely not going to Newcastle,” Dixon said. “He only got back (to Queensland) from Victoria on Monday and it would mean driving him back down to Newcastle this week.
“He’s had a different start to this year than the past two. He had those five runs in a row in Victoria.
“He’s come through Victoria well. It’s probably the best he’s come home after a trip like that, but he’s also got a lot to come in the next few months.
“We’re really keen to get him back to Cambridge (for the $NZ1mil Race by betcha on April 10), so there’s a chance to freshen him up a bit now.”
Leap To Fame produced one of the best runs of his stellar career to win at Cambridge and smash the track record last year.’
Beyond that, Dixon is focused on chasing a third Inter Dominion crown at Albion Park in July.
PHOTO: - Leap To Fame - Club Menangle/Pacepix
