by Adam Hamilton

There has never been a season like it.

Now that 2024 has come and gone, the biggest decision of the year still awaits.

Who will be crowned Australian Harness Horse of the Year in the most fascinating, divisive and talent-crammed vote of all time?

There are three genuine contenders.

In any “normal” year, either Leap To Fame, Just Believe or Keayang Zahara would be unbeatable.

They are all champions in their own way.

Leap To Fame is one of the absolute greatest pacers Australasia has ever seen, Just Believe sits in the all-time top three Down Under trotters (with Maori’s Idol and Lyell Creek), while there has never been a 3-year-old trotter anything near Keayang Zahara in this part of the world.

Let’s take an in-depth look at the three contenders:

LEAP TO FAME

6-year-old horse pacer. Bettors Delight—Lettucereason

2024 Record: 16 starts, 15 wins, one second

2024 Prize money: $1,451,428

2024 Major wins: Hunter Cup, Miracle Mile and Blacks A Fake

He is surely the favorite to go back-to-back in this award.

It almost seems unthinkable to suggest he may not win it given his deeds in 2024 where he raced 16 times for 15 wins and a second.

He became only the second horse to complete the Triple Crown – Inter Dominion (late 2023), Hunter Cup (February) and Miracle Mile (March). Then he added the Blacks A Fake.

Sadly, a niggling throat infection sidelined him from chasing more glamour time in the Victoria and Hunter Cups as well as denying him a defense of his crown in the NSW Inter Dominion.

I wish he’d be able to go to NZ for the first time for that NZ Cup in November.

He ranks in the best three or four pacers Down Under has ever produced and still has lots of time to build on that given he’s only just turned 6.

It’ll be great to see him back defending his Hunter Cup title on Feb. 1 at Melton.

JUST BELIEVE

9-year-old gelding trotter. Orlando Vici—Heavens Above

2024 Record: 18 starts, 15 wins, three seconds

2024 Prize money: $997,092

2024 Major wins: New Zealand Dominion Trot, NZ Rowe Cup, TAB Trot

What an absolute marvel.

At an age when most horses are retired or waning, Just Believe took things to another level.

And all this in the year after his daunting and grueling Swedish trip in mid to late 2023.

Apart from his narrow and fantastic defeat (second) in the Great Southern Star, he won all the mega races he chased.

Traditionally it’s been hard for Aussies to go to New Zealand and win, let alone dominate, but that’s exactly what Just Believe did.

He won the inaugural TAB Trot and added NZ’s two biggest trotting races, the Rowe Cup and Dominion Trot.

Sadly, the year ended with an injury and uncertainty over his racing future.

Let’s hope we see him back and firing, but, if not, he’s well and truly stamped himself as a legend of trotting in this part of the world.

KEAYANG ZAHARA

4-year-old mare trotter. Volstead—Keayang Yankee

2024 Record: 14 starts, 14 wins

2024 Prize money: $688,701

2024 Major wins: Victoria Derby, New Zealand Derby, The Ascent

Perfection… that’s the only way to describe this young girl.

From a winning debut on April 3, to an unbeaten streak of 14 wins, including seven at Group 1 level and across two countries.

She thrashed her own sex and then made the boys look second-rate.

Keayang Zahara is everything modern and exciting about trotting Down Under.

And she’s got the potential to take it globally in races like Elitloppet and Yonkers International Trot if she keeps developing in the next 12 to 18 months.

Fast, strong and seemingly with bulletproof manners.

She is just something else.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

SWAYZEE

7-year-old gelding pacer. Rock N Roll Heaven—Lettucereason

2024 Record: 10 starts, seven wins, three seconds

2024 Prize money: $913,879

2024 Major wins: New Zealand Cup and Victoria Cup

What a mighty stayer this fella is.

One Aussie-trained pacer had won the iconic New Zealand Cup since 1985 before this guy won in 2023 and then successfully defended the crown last November.

That’s special.

Amazingly, Swayzee is the older half-brother to Leap To Fame and he’s been his arch-rival and only major foe for the past 18 months.

They’ve been like Nadal and Federer to tennis in their prime.

Yes, he’s only beaten him once, but Swayzee hasn’t had many opportunities to get a better spot in running than Leap To Fame.

Swayzee won seven of his 10 starts in 2024 and ran second in the other three. Two of those seconds were to Leap To Fame.

We can’t wait to see them come together again, but we may have to wait a while.

Swayzee will skip the Hunter Cup and the sprinting style of the Miracle Mile isn’t his go.

It could be the next Inter Dominion at Albion Park in July before the siblings lock horns again.

DON HUGO

5-year-old horse pacer. Art Major—Cinco Amigos

2024 Record: 16 starts, eight wins, five placings

2024 Prize money: $1,423,885

2024 Major wins: TAB Eureka and Inter Dominion final

What a finish to the year this guy had.

Emerged from relative obscurity to win the world’s richest harness race, the $2.1 million TAB Eureka, at Menangle in September.

Just a couple of months earlier, he didn’t get a run in the Group 1 Blacks A Fake itself (won by Leap To Fame) and only contested the consolation.

Some felt the TAB Eureka was a bit of ‘soft win’ given Don Hugo led, dictated and zipped home to beat his rivals.

But the then 4-year-old silenced his critics in the most emphatic fashion when he won two heats of the NSW Inter Dominion and won a titanic final in November/December.

For the second year in its history, the TAB Eureka delivered the Inter Dominion winner. Leap To Fame ran second in the inaugural running in 2023 and dominated the Brisbane Inter Dominion series a few weeks later.

Don Hugo is a proper horse, but as trainer/driver Luke McCarthy rightly points out, the bar will go up when he locks horns with the likes of Leap To Fame and Swayzee in the biggest races of 2024.

McCarthy said, “I don’t know if he can beat them, but I know he just keeps getting better and it’ll be fun seeing where we stack up.”

That could come as soon as the Group 1 Hunter Cup on Feb. 1 where Leap To Fame is headed.

At the very least, Don Hugo is going to add some much needed depth to our marquee pacing features in 2025.

THE VERDICT:

I suspect the majority will go with Leap To Fame, but I’m voting for Just Believe. I just give a lot of extra weight to the fact he traveled to New Zealand twice and was so dominant over there.