Leap To Fame winning the 2025 Race By Betcha
CHAMPION pacer Leap To Fame set the scene for a record-breaking Brisbane Inter Dominion after producing the best performance of his stellar career to win the $NZ1 million Race by betcha at Cambridge.
Another romp through July’s Inter Dominion in front of a hometown crowd at Albion Park would see Leap To Fame become Australasia’s all-time richest pacer.
Cambridge was his 50th win from just 63 starts and took Leap To Fame’s earnings to $4,009,660. It moved him into fourth place on the all-time earnings list, headed by the great Blacks A Fake on $4,575,438.
The six-year-old silenced some emerging doubters when he emphatically turned the tables on his Miracle Mile conqueror Don Hugo and obliterated the New Zealand race record at Cambridge last Friday night.
Rival trainer, drivers and fans watched in awe as he overcame by far the hardest run in the race on a rain-sodden track and took a staggering 1.6sec off the NZ record.
Even his modest trainer-driver Grant Dixon declared it Leap To Fame’s “greatest win yet.”
Despite the temptation of two other major races in NZ, which would be at his mercy, owner Kevin Seymour confirmed Leap To Fame would return home to prepare for the huge Brisbane Inter Dominion series, capped by a $1 million final, at Albion Park in July.
“We came to show the Kiwis how good he was in the flesh and we’ve done that. It’s back home now,” he said.
“Somehow, even after three years at the top, this horse keeps giving us new magical moments and that was one of them.
“It’s right in the upper echelon of thrills he’s given us, to take him to NZ for the first time and produce a performance like that.
“We’ll get him back home now and look forward to everyone having to travel to meet us next time in the Inter Dominion.”
Leap To Fame first really stamped his greatness when he won the last Inter Dominion held in Brisbane in December, 2023.
“To do it again would be something else,” Seymour said.
Leap To Fame’s epic Cambridge win came at a rare time when he needed to reassert his dominance after defeats in his first two “majors” of 2025 – a second to Swayzee in the Hunter Cup and a second to Don Hugo in the Miracle Mile.
While Swayzee didn’t go to Cambridge, Leap To Fame crushed Don Hugo to take a 2-1 scoreline.
Champion Kiwi horseman Barry and Mark Purdon, along with Cran Dalgety, all marvelled at Leap To Fame’s performance.
“It’s just greatness,” Dalgety said. “We knew he was really good, but that was something else. He’s one of the best we’ve ever seen.”
Mark Purdon, who finished second on Chase A Dream, said: “I’ve never been in a race like it. I had the best seat in the house, just watching Leap To Fame go to war up front and just keep going.”
In another huge boost for the Inter Dominion, Victorian star Arcee Phoenix, who won the $NZ600,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge, is also Brisbane-bound.
Like Leap To Fame, his connections will bypass other NZ options to return home and focus on the Inter Dominion.
PHOTO: Race Images NZ
