Down Under’s top pacer and trotter will be featured on card with six Group 1 races.

by Adam Hamilton

Leap To Fame will headline the best Down Under night of harness in recent years at Melton Saturday (Oct. 12).

Anywhere Leap To Fame goes he is the rock star, but the presence of champion trotter Just Believe and six Group 1 races across the night promises to make the night something special.

Along with the $300,000 Victoria Cup, Saturday night’s card features the $200,000 Victoria Derby, $150,000 Victoria Oaks, $150,000 Queen of the Pacific (open-class mares), $75,000 Bill Collins Trotters’ Sprint and the $75,000 Victoria Trotters’ Oaks. More on them soon.

Back to Leap To Fame, who posted his 43rd win from just 54 starts when he cruised to victory in his final “warm-up” race, the $50,000 Smoken Up Sprint at Melton last night (Oct. 5).

Already a winner of over $3.2 million, Leap To Fame will be trying to add to comparisons with the all-time greats of Down Under pacing when he starts a hot favorite in the $300,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup.

Of the greats, only Preux Chevalier has won the “big four” of Australian harness racing – Inter Dominion, Miracle Mile, Hunter Cup and Victoria Cup. He did so way back in 1984-85.

Even megastars like Popular Alm, Blacks A Fake and Lazarus only won three of the four.

Leap To Fame won the Brisbane Inter Dominion last December, added the Hunter Cup in February and then the Miracle Mile in March.

He is a raging hot $1.50 (for a $1 bet) favorite to add the Victoria Cup.

As has been the case so often over the past 18 months, Leap To Fame’s biggest danger will be trainer Jason Grimson.

Grimson will have at least three and maybe as many as five of Leap To Fame’s 11 rivals.

Leading his charge is the mighty stayer, Swayzee. He famously beat Leap To Fame in last year’s Group 1 Blacks A Fake in Brisbane and hasn’t been disgraced chasing him home in their three clashes since.

Simply, to have any chance of beating Leap To Fame this time, Swayzee will need to draw better and work around to take the lead.

Grimson’s other definite starters are emerging pair Major Moth and District Attorney, who finished one-two in the Group 2 Kilmore Cup on Sept. 27.

Grimson also expects Nerano, who won well at Menangle last night, to make the cut, while stablemate Curly James comes into contention after finishing third to Leap To Fame in the Smoken Up last night.

The other class factors of the Victoria Cup are multiple Group 1 winners Catch A Wave and Better Eclipse on their best form and if they got the right trip.

It’s far from the richest race of the night, but the clash of the night will be between Down Under’s two best trotters, Just Believe and Callmethebreeze, in the Bill Collins Trotters’ Sprint.

Just Believe is the undisputed “King” and one of the greatest trotters this part of the world has seen.

But Callmethebreeze has already beaten him once in a major race — the Group 1 Great Southern Star back in February — and looks right at the top of his game for this clash.

Callmethebreeze, a French-bred multiple European Group 1 winner before being sold Down Under, changed stables during a recent spell and is unbeaten in three starts for new trainer Andy Gath.

Just Believe’s co-trainer and driver Greg Sugars concedes the 1,720-meter distance of this clash suits Callmethebreeze.

“I think it favors him more than us,” Sugars said. “Just Believe can run the same sort of splits in longer races as he does in sprints, which separates him from the rest.

“In the shorter races, there’s more trotters who can hold their speed and it levels things up a bit.

“In saying that, Jess [Tubbs, trainer] and I don’t think we’ve ever had the old boy better. His work at home has been better than ever.”

Sugars oozed respect for Callmethebreeze.

“We’ll need to bring our A-game and for nothing to go wrong because we know how good he [Callmethebreeze] is,” he said. “You think he’d keep improving the longer he races down here and that’s how it looks.”

Gath summed up the clash best: “Just Believe is an absolute champion, but we’ve probably got one of the very few trotters who can beat him if things go our way.”

Bring it on.

They won’t be the only trotters stirring interest Saturday night.

The unbeaten, untapped and ridiculously exciting Keayang Zahara will be chasing her ninth win from as many starts in the Victoria Trotters’ Oaks. It should be a walk in the park.

Judging by the times she can go and ease of her wins, many are already saying she’s world class. And as good as any young trotting filly Australia has seen.

The girls will also take center stage in another two of the Group 1 features, the Queen Of The Pacific and the Victoria (pacing) Oaks.

Outstanding former Kiwi mare Aardies Express has already won Australia’s top mares’ race, the Ladyship Mile, in May and will be favorite to add the next biggest, the Queen Of The Pacific.

She’s trained by Jason Grimson, who also trains two of her major rivals in Tay Tay and Illavabubbles.

The Oaks will have a strong New Zealand flavor after the easy qualifying heat wins of Coastal Babe and Aardie B Miki at Melton last night.

Coastal Babe is trained in NZ by Steven Reid and “on loan” to top Victorian trainer Emma Stewart for this series, while former Kiwi filly Aardie B Miki has won four of her six runs — including the Group 1 Queensland Oaks — since moving to Queensland trainer Chantal Turpin.

Aardie B Miki and Aardies Express are raced by the Canadian-based Mike Tanev, who enjoyed a monstrous 24 hours after his other star, Aardiebytheseaside, won easily at Gloucester Park in Perth last Friday night.

Then there is the time-honored class, the Victoria Derby. It’s a bit like the Little Brown Jug of Australia for status.

Last night’s qualifiers were dominated by Emma Stewart, who snared the trifecta (first three home) in both heats.

Bay Of Biscay, who finished second against the 4-year-olds in last month’s $2.1 million TAB Eureka, was surprisingly beaten in his Derby heat, but still looks the testing material for the final.

It’s going to be one heck of a night’s racing.