Better draw helps Leap To Fame turn tables on Kingman in Ballarat
by Adam Hamilton
It is amazing what an impact a couple of hefty bonuses can have.
A couple of months ago, Harness Racing Victoria unveiled $1.5 million in potential bonuses — $1 million for pacers and $500,000 for trotters — spanning the six weeks of its revamped Summer of Glory carnival.
Through the 1990s and 2000s, Victoria was a mecca in Down Under harness racing through the key summer weeks.
But prize money challenges, changes to the calendar, and the advent of a couple of slot races changed all that.
Cue the doubters.
The bonuses were a waste of money… wrong on all fronts. Firstly, they are insured bonuses. That means there is a premium to cover the insurance of them going off, but nothing near a true $1.5 million cost should both go off.
Secondly, they have already been a stunning success and we’ve only had three of the six Summer of Glory race meetings so far.
Kingman (Always B Miki out of Gotta Go Dali Queen by Dali), the most exciting pacer in Australasia, has raced at all three meetings.
The champion pacer of the past three years and one of the greatest of all time, Leap To Fame (Bettors Delight out of Lettucereason by Art Major), has stepped out twice.
Excitingly, Kingman and Leap To Fame have clashed twice in the past three weeks.
The scoreline overall is 3-1 Kingman, but more importantly, it is 1-1 during this carnival.
Kingman led throughout to beat Leap To Fame in the Shepparton Cup, then Leap To Fame answered the challenge when the doubters were emerging with an emphatic all-the-way win in last night’s $100,000 Group 2 Ballarat Cup.
Leap To Fame’s trainer/driver Grant Dixon summed it up best: “It seems whoever gets the better trip is the victor at the moment.”
In contrast to Shepparton when Kingman drew to lead, Leap To Fame had the better draw and used it to work forward and take the front.
Dixon then cut him loose with a track record 1:54.4 mile rate for the long 2,710-meter trip.
Leap To Fame’s last mile of the staying trip was a blistering 1:51.7. His splits were: :29.1, :28.7, :26.4, and :27.5.
“He felt so good going into tonight, we’re just relieved to see him bounce back,” Dixon said.
Dixon made it clear the “pull” of the bonus was the reason Leap To Fame was back in Victoria and having so many runs.
“It’s the only reason he’s come for so long,” he said. “We decided to bring him down early to give him a shot at it.
“The dream is still alive, but it’s going to be very hard with the caliber of horses he’ll have to beat the next three weeks.”
Leap To Fame joins Kingman and remarkable veteran Bulletproof Boy as the only pacers still in contention for the bonus.
To win, a pacer needs to win four of the six “Cups,” including the $250,000 Group 1 Hunter Cup on Feb. 14.
So, any of the three will need to win all three remaining legs to bank the bonus.
The next two legs are the $150,000 Group 1 Cranbourne Cup next Saturday night and the $150,000 Group 1 Kilmore Cup on Feb. 7.
Kingman wasn’t the same horse last night as he was at Shepparton, hanging badly on the bends when racing outside Leap To Fame.
It was a remarkable effort to continually pick himself up and keep coming to finish fourth, albeit 12.8 meters behind Leap To Fame.
The sport needs its star racing and, even more so, clashing with each other.
And we’re going to get lots more of it in the remaining three weeks of the Summer of Glory.
As terrific as the past three weeks have been, they have essentially just been an entrée.
The pacing ranks will get another marquee additions over the next two weeks.
First will be champion stayer Swayzee (Rock N Roll Heaven out of Lettucereason by Art Major), a two-time New Zealand Cup winner, Victoria Cup, Blacks A Fake, and reigning Hunter Cup champ.
Then comes New Zealand’s standout pacer, Republican Party (Bettors Delight out of Democrat Lady by American Ideal). He’s won the past two Auckland Cups and ran a luckless third to Swayzee and Leap To Fame in last year’s Hunter Cup to prove he’s not far off them.
Swayzee will launch his Victorian raid next Saturday at Cranbourne before a title defense in the Hunter Cup.
We will have to wait another week for Republican Party, who will kick-off in the Kilmore Cup and go to the Hunter Cup a week later.
They bring loads of class and interest, along with different weapons, to Victoria.
Just when the naysayers were suggesting Swayzee was past his best, the mighty 8-year-old produced one of the best wins of his career in the Goulburn Cup three weeks ago.
Sure, a bush win at Goulburn in a $60,000 race may not sound sexy, but was all about the way Swayzee sat outside and crushed another superstar in Don Hugo, who beat Leap To Fame in the Group 1 Blacks A Fake two starts prior. Don Hugo also boasts a Miracle Mile, Inter Dominion, and TAB Eureka on his CV.
It was the Swayzee of old, turning the race into a war and coming out on top.
The 2,780 meters of the Hunter Cup is made for him and he boasts two Group 1 wins over Leap To Fame in staying races, including last year’s Hunter Cup when he led throughout.
Republican Party is different. Against the Kiwis at home, he can be driven tough, but they tried that in last November’s Group 1 New Zealand Cup and he was simply outstayed in a brutal 3,200-meter test by both Kingman (who won) and Leap To Fame (second).
The compact 6-year-old boasts at least as much, maybe more gate speed than the other big guns, and a kind draw at Kilmore or in the Hunter Cup will bring him right into play.
It’s likely his young gun driver Carter Dalgety will try to stalk and win, rather than take on the mighty Aussie stayers at their own game.
As it stands, we may have to wait until the Hunter Cup for the big four to clash.
But that’s fair given the storied history of Australia’s greatest staying race.
The awesome entrees will continue over the next two weeks.
It’s likely Swayzee will have Kingman and Leap To Fame to contend with at Cranbourne next Saturday.
Lots will depend on how Cranbourne plays out, but Kingman and/or Leap To Fame could meet Republican Party the week after at Kilmore.
That’s just the pacers we’ve talked about.
The trotting series lacks the depth, but has a real headline act.
Freakish mare Keayang Zahara (Volstead out of Keayang Yankee by Muscles Yankee) is the best young trotter Australia has produced and could be one of the best, full stop.
The 5-year-old made it 22 wins from just 23 starts when she cruised to victory in last night’s $75,000 Group 2 Ballarat Trotters’ Cup.
It was her second win in the six-leg bonus series, meaning she has to win two of the remaining three legs, including the $250,000 Group 1 Great Southern Star on Feb. 14, to bank the $500,000 bonus.
Judging by her two wins so far, it should be almost a formality that she wins one at either Cranbourne or Kilmore in the next two weeks.
Then it will come down to the Great Southern Star, which will be a new challenge given it has a Little Brown Jug/Elitloppet format of heats and final on the same race card.
