Leap To Fame produced one of the great modern-day pacing performances when he sat parked outside Kingman in the Cranbourne Cup and, after looking beaten at the 200m mark, came again to record a remarkable victory.
Leap To Fame has nothing left to prove in his career but the magnificent Queenslander has been vulnerable when sitting parked in the best races in the last 12 months, losing more of them than he has won.
In saying that, he gets closer than the other superstar pacers would when he does go down fighting.
But on Saturday night, he would not accept second, his heart too much for even the sectionals clock that suggested he shouldn’t have been able to do what he did.
The race had a bizarre build-up. Kingman and two of his stablemates had to be rescued off their horse transporter on the way to the track after it caught fire because of a tyre issue.
That meant all three Luke McCarthy-trained pacers had to pass a veterinary examination before they were allowed to start and if that cost Kingman even a percentage point of performance, maybe that was a deciding factor.
But Leap To Fame’s performance was that of a champion, a title he has worn for two or three years, with all that is left for him to aim for is how high up the list of all-time greats he ends his career.
Republican Party now finds himself walking into this ongoing bar brawl between Leap To Fame and Kingman with Swayzee, who finished down the track in the Cranbourne Cup, also laying in weight in the Hunter Cup.
It all sounds a bit to daunting but Republican Party did almost knock off Swayzee and Leap To Fame in the Hunter Cup last year after enjoying a pegs run, something young driver Carter Dalgety will be hoping he can secure again to have any chance of beating the local heroes over the next two weeks.
“I’d love to get over there and get one back for the Kiwis, because for so long we dominated these races, but for the last few years, it has been them doing it to us,” Dalgety said.
“But we have all seen how great a horses they are so we know this isn’t going to be easy.”
Bet N Win won the Trotter of the Year at the awards while Auckland couple Ken and Karen Breckon won the coveted Outstanding Contribution award.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
