Luke McCarthy dominates Leap To Fame again as Don Hugo wins Blacks A Fake
by Adam Hamilton
It has taken Luke McCarthy to end the stunning and sustained dominance of Leap To Fame in Down Under’s biggest races.
The champion horseman landed his 90th Group 1 win of his stellar career when he upstaged Leap To Fame again, albeit by a whisker, in last night’s $250,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake at Albion.
This time he did it again with 5-year-old entire Don Hugo, a son of Art Major out of Bettors Delight mare Cinco Amigos, after a brilliant tactical drive and in a stunning three-way finish.
It’s the fourth time this year McCarthy has beaten Leap To Fame and the second time with Don Hugo. His other stable star, Kingman, has done it twice, too.
Don Hugo won their first clash in the $1 million Miracle Mile on March 8 before Leap To Fame struck back and beat him in their next three meetings.
But McCarthy had a plan and it played out exactly as he hoped.
Rather than using his great draw to lead and lock horns with Leap To Fame over the grueling 2,680 meters, McCarthy opted to take a trail on emerging Queensland star The Janitor when he made an early move around the field.
That left Leap To Fame to again have to do the hardest work outside the leader.
Just when Leap To Fame wore down a brave The Janitor about 50 meters from the finishing line, Don Hugo, who had stalked in the trail, lifted along the sprint lane and snatched victory by a nose.
The 1:52.8 mile rate for 2,680 meters equaled the track record.
“I hoped The Janitor would be first to get to me and knew if I sat on him, I’d get the last shot at them,” McCarthy said. “It took the whole straight to get there, but I thought I did right on the line. The other two horses went great as well.”
As brave as Leap To Fame was, it was his fourth defeat in his past six starts and the heir of invincibility he once had is seriously being challenged.
The win capped a stunning seven weeks for McCarthy after Kingman’s wins in the Group 1 Victoria Cup at Melton on Oct. 18 and the iconic New Zealand Cup at Addington in Christchurch on Nov. 11.
“It’s been huge,” McCarthy said. “I’m lucky to have two great horses and two fantastic owners behind them.”
Don Hugo’s owner Tony Licastro showed his class by taking time out to praise Leap To Fame.
“His run was amazing again,” Licastro said. “It’s a privilege to race against one of the greatest we’ve ever seen, let alone beat him a couple of times as we have now.”
Licastro can’t believe the ride the 5-year-old has given him in the past 16 months.
“From winning the TAB Eureka to the [Sydney] Inter Dominion, a Miracle Mile, and now a Blacks A Fake, I’ve waited 25 years in the game for a horse like this,” he said.
McCarthy now has plenty of thinking to do with two of the best open-class pacers Down Under.
“Kingman is definitely going to those Cups in Victoria early next year and I’ll let the dust settle and speak with Tony about what we do with Hugo,” he said. “I really want to focus on defending his Miracle Mile crown [on March 10], so I’d prefer to pick and choose a bit between now and then.”
Leap To Fame’s trainer/driver Grant Dixon said he would also take some time before planning where he heads next.
The Janitor showed he was now up with the big boys by finishing a very close third after his fantastic second in the Sunshine Sprint a week earlier.
KEAYANG ZAHARA SCORES 10TH GROUP 1 IN GREAT SQUARE
A somewhat reluctant 24-hour road trip paid dividends when champion young trotting mare Keayang Zahara cruised to her 10th Group 1 win in Saturday night’s $150,000 Great Square at Albion Park.
It took the 4-year-old’s record to a staggering 20 wins from just 21 starts and she has banked $868,035.
After unsuccessfully trying to secure a guaranteed flight from Melbourne to Brisbane, Marg Lee and sons Paddy and Jason were left having to do the trip by road or skip the race.
“At first it was a no, but then we started to look into it more,” Jason said. “She’d only raced six times this year and there are six weeks or so after this race to get home and be ready for the next main target, the Maori Mile [Bendigo, Jan. 10].
“We left early in the week to break the trip up for her. She had a day-and-a-half at Peter and Cindy Rixon’s place, which is about halfway between home and here [Brisbane].
“She handled it well and it’s also great to get her up here and familiar with the place because, all things going well, she’ll be back up here next July for the Inter Dominion, which is just about our biggest aim with her next year.”
Jason revealed Keayang Zahara was a bit underdone for the race.
“That’s as little as we’ve worked a horse going into a Group 1, but she handled the travel better than we expected and actually put on weight,” he said.
Keayang Zahara’s 1:56.4 mile rate for 2,138 meters was just 0.9 seconds outside the track record, but it was her breathtaking closing splits which left people shaking their heads.
She came from worse than midfield and clocked a stunning 54.6 second last half.
One of the most interested and astute onlookers was leviathan trotter owner/breeder Pat Driscoll, of Haras des Trotteurs and Yabby Dams fame.
Driscoll is credited with being one of the key people to revolutionize trotting Down Under with his investment and push to truly internationalize the breed.
It’s no surprise he is a huge Keayang Zahara fan.
“She’s something else,” Driscoll said. “I’ve been saying for some time she is world class and she could develop into one of the best in the world, certainly one of the best trotting mares.
“She’s got everything and, if she stays sound and continues to develop, it’ll be great to see her take on the world.
“I heard that the Lee family [co-trainers Marg and Paddy Lee] are going to give her at least another year here to develop and strengthen-up before they look at a race like the Elitlopp [in Sweden].”
Driscoll, who bred Australia’s most recent champion trotter Just Believe, also has a close connection to Keayang Zahara.
“We were the first to identify her sire Volstead and make him available to Australian breeders. Keayang Zahara is a product of that,” he said. “As someone who has tried to improve our trotting breed and really internationalize it, it’s just wonderful to have a mare like this come along.
“She’s got so much international flavor, being by Volstead out of Keayang Yankee, a Muscles Yankee [U.S. stallion] mare.
“We are seeing generational change in trotting Down Under and the next generation will be even better and more exciting as the mix of U.S., French, New Zealand and local breeds get even stronger.”
So, what’s next for Keayang Zahara?
She heads home, again by road, to freshen-up and prepare for the new $500,000 bonus across six feature trotting races in Victoria from Jan. 10 to Feb. 14.
It can be done by a trotter who can win four of the six races, but they must include the biggest of them, the $250,000 Group 1 Great Southern Star at Melton on Feb. 14.
Another highlight of the night was Ruby Rules’ tough win in the Bill Dixon.
The race is named after one of Queensland’s greatest horsemen and the father of Leap To Fame’s trainer/driver, Grant.
Fittingly, Grant and Trista Dixon won last night’s race with 3-year-old filly Ruby Rules, by Ohoka Punter out of Mach Three mare Rich Ruby Red. She sat outside and was too strong and classy for her older rivals.
It’s the fourth time in the past seven years Team Dixon has won the race.
“We do try and stack it [the race],” Grant said. “It’s one that means a lot to us. It’s great to be able to win it again, especially with a filly who went as good as that, and just keeps stepping up.”
