Leap To Fame and half-brother Swayzee are the top two choices in a stacked field.

by Adam Hamilton

Little did Paul Kahlefeldt know what he was really buying when he paid $50,000 for an Art Major filly at the 2010 Australian Gold Yearling Sales in Melbourne.

That filly, who he later named Lettucereason, is now a two-time Australian Broodmare of the Year and the only Australian mare in Australia to produce two pacers to win more than $2 million in prize money.

Those two pacers are the two best Down Under: Leap To Fame (by Bettors Delight) and Swayzee (by Rock N Roll Heaven).

Remarkably, the pair are from just three foals Lettucereason has had to make it to the racetrack.

Six-year-old Leap To Fame and 7-year-old Swayzee have raced a combined 123 times for 74 wins, 24 placings and banked $5,480,628.

Leap To Fame is already considered by many as one of the all-time greatest pacers Australia has seen.

And Swayzee, who seems to have gone to a new level this year, isn’t far behind with two New Zealand Cup wins, a Hunter Cup, a Victoria Cup and a Blacks A Fake.

The siblings have locked horns five times.

Swayzee won the first clash in the 2023 Blacks A Fake, but Leap To Fame then won the next three.

Swayzee then struck back, winning their latest and most epic clash yet in the Group 1 Hunter Cup at Melton on Feb. 1.

They clash for the sixth time in Saturday (March 8) night’s $1 million Miracle Mile at Menangle.

Leap To Fame, the defending champion, is $2.20 (for a $1 bet) favorite, while Swayzee is $4.20.

Leap To Fame, who created history by winning from the wide barrier 7 last year, will have to do it again from the same gate but in an even harder field this week.

“On paper, it looks like his biggest challenge yet,” trainer/driver Grant Dixon said.

Kahlefeldt will be watching on proudly from Redbank Lodge Standardbreds in Wagga, about five hours south-west of Menangle.

“It’s unbelievable to have bred two incredibly talented siblings,” he said. “When you breed foals, you hope they go on to be successful and have good racing careers, but not in your wildest dreams would you expect one or both to go on and win over $2 million for their owners.

“It’s quite an amazing milestone for the siblings, to both win over $2 million in a relatively short period of time. If they can race on for another year or two, they could both crack $3 million. Leap To Fame [$3,427,525] is on target to top $4 million.”

While Leap To Fame is the defending Miracle Mile champion and has won 22 of his 26 sprint races (1,720 meters or shorter), many doubted Swayzee’s sprinting capabilities because he is such a supreme stayer.

But he silenced those doubters with a powerhouse display of speed and strength to win his Miracle Mile qualifier last Saturday night.

Kahlefeldt watched with interest.

“Both are now proven at staying and sprint distances and both are now very much of equal abilities,” he said. “I’m sure we are in for one hell of a Miracle Mile on Saturday night and they look like the two best chances. They are in great hands with their talented trainers and drivers.

“I’ll be watching with great interest and, as I usually do, wishing their owners and connections all the best.”

Back to Lettucereason, who also showed plenty of talent on the track before becoming the toast of Down Under breeding.

She raced 51 starts for 17 wins, 22 placings and earnings of $180,073.

“I trained her to start with,” Kahlefeldt said. “She won her first start at Wagga and finished third in Bathurst Gold Tiara [at 2].

“Then I sent her to Luke McCarthy where she was placed in a couple of Group One’s. She was actually unlucky not to have a Group One next to her name.”

At 2 with McCarthy, Lettucereason also won a semi-final of the NSW Breeders Challenge before running second in the Group 1 final.

Then at 3, she ran fifth in the NSW Oaks, fourth in the Group 1 Australian Gold final and third in the Group 1 NSW Breeders Challenge final.

Aside from the two champions of today, Lettucereason’s only other foal to race was her first, a son of American Ideal called Maximus Red.

The gelding showed the family’s early talent with a third in the Group 1 Bathurst Gold final in just his fourth start.

Maximus Red was a consistent performer in Australia before continuing his career in the U.S. where he took his career wins to 37 with another 74 placings and earnings of $448,117.

Lettucereason, who has only had six foals from 16 attempts, has an unraced 2-year-old American Ideal filly called Senses, who is yet to be seen at the trials. She also foaled a full sister to Leap To Fame, by Bettors Delight, on Sept. 22, last year.