by Adam Hamilton

Down Under’s biggest sprint race is really taking shape, but with three crucial chapters still to play out.

If you’ve read this column recently, you’ll know Leap To Fame is the pin-up pacer in Australasia and he is certainly the horse they all have to beat in Saturday’s (March 9) $1 million Miracle Mile at Menangle.

Some markets have him as short as $1.80 (for a $1 bet).

Despite his greatness, Leap To Fame is more a stayer than speedster so the mile takes him out of his comfort zone.

That said, he toyed with his rivals, albeit in moderate company, to post his 34th win from just 44 starts in last Friday night’s (Feb. 23) $100,000 Group 2 Newcastle Mile.

Trainer-driver Grant Dixon deliberately targeted Newcastle because victory would guarantee Leap To Fame a Miracle Mile spot and also a 15-day break between races.

The champion Queensland horseman thinks it will be a key advantage over his seven rivals in the Miracle Mile, given all of them will have to qualify through one of the three remaining lead-up races at Menangle this Saturday night (March 2).

Those races are the $250,000 Chariots Of Fire for 4-year-olds and two $100,000 Group 2 qualifying sprint races for open-class pacers.

More of those races soon.

Dixon is maximizing the gap between races by taking Leap To Fame on an eight-hour road trip from Newcastle back to his Tambourine stables outside of Brisbane just hours after last Friday night’s win.

“He was home in his own yard just after lunchtime Saturday,” he said. “Nothing beats training them at home. We thought seriously about leaving him down at Menangle, but the trip down to Newcastle was so easy, we thought we’d just take him back home again straight away.

“We’ll wait as late as possible before heading down to Menangle, but knowing he’ll need to be there sometime on Thursday [next week] to go into the retention barn.”

It’s that retention barn which concerns Dixon as much as any of Leap To Fame’s likely rivals in the Miracle Mile.

“He’s a stallion who trains out of a paddock at home and he’s got to stand in a box for a couple of days before he races,” Dixon said. “He doesn’t enjoy that, it’s not ideal. I don’t have an issue with the concept of the retention barn, but it suits some horses better than others.

“When you combine that with the short distance, which doesn’t play to his strength, it’s far from an ideal race for him. I’ll be honest, if it wasn’t worth so much and didn’t mean so much to Kevin [Seymour, owner], I’d happily stay home and give it a miss.”

Seymour, a leviathan owner, breeder and sponsor of Aussie harness, has won every major race in his homeland except the Miracle Mile.

Leap To Fame is trying to create history as the first pacer to win Australia’s “Triple Crown” – the Inter Dominion pacing final, Hunter Cup and Miracle Mile in the same campaign.

“The other two were staying races and this is a sprint, so it’ll be by far the hardest of the lot to win,” Dixon said. “We’ll need a good draw and a lot of luck, but we couldn’t have him any better going into it and I love the 15 days between races.”

Let’s get back to that 4-year-old crop, which looms ominously for Leap To Fame in the Miracle Mile.

They will all clash in Australasia’s biggest 4-year-old feature, the $250,000 Group 1 Chariots Of Fire at Menangle on Saturday night.

Heading the crop is Mark and Nathan Purdon’s latest young star Don’t Stop Dreaming, who posted his 14th win from just 20 starts when he cruised to victory against older rivals in a 2,300m free-for-all at Menangle last night.

It was little more than trackwork as Purdon worked to the front, dictated terms and blasted home in :25.7sec to win seemingly without being extended.

History says the Chariots Of Fire is a superb Miracle Mile pointer with the past eight Chariots winners either winning or finishing top three in the Miracle Mile.

The one change this year is the Chariots is only a week before the Mile, which will present a bigger challenge for the 4-year-olds to back up so quickly.

But Don’t Stop Dreaming, Its Merlin, Jason Grimson’s new star Frankie Ferocious and brilliant Bathurst pacer Better Be The Best make for a heck of a Chariots.

CATCH A WAVE OUT OF MIRACLE MILE

Brilliant Victorian pacer Catch A Wave won’t defend his Miracle Mile crown.

The 5-year-old, who burst into the big league winning the Chariots Of Fire/Miracle Mile double this time last year, sustained an injury in last Friday night’s (Feb. 23) Geelong Rocket.

But driver Kate Gath couldn’t hide her relief after an exhaustive veterinary inspection the following morning.

“We feared the worst… he was very lame after the race,” she said. “By the time we got him back to his stall, he couldn’t put his foot on the ground. He took a couple of steps and the vet said, ‘don’t let him walk anymore.’”

Catch A Wave was medicated, returned to Team Gath’s stables and seemed better the next morning.

“I still couldn’t believe it when Andy [Gath’s husband and trainer of Catch A Wave] rang me and said all they could find was a corn. They cut it out and said he should be right to go again in a couple of weeks.”

Catch A Wave has raced 33 times for 19 wins, six placings and banked almost $1.3 million.

JUST BELIEVE WINS TROTTING GRAND PRIX

It wasn’t all just about the pacers Down Under last weekend.

Champion trotter Just Believe further stamped his greatness with a remarkable win in the Group 1 Australian Trotting Grand Prix (2240m) at Melton.

Fresh off a very rare defeat by French-bred European import Callmethebreeze in the Group 1 Great Southern Star final on Feb. 3, it was revenge time last Saturday night (Feb. 24).

Helped by a daring and stunning Greg Sugars drive, Just Believe sprouted wings from a seemingly hopeless position to snatch a last stride win from emerging star Arcee Phoenix.

Callmethebreeze wasn’t the same horse he was in the Great Southern Star. He worked to the lead, but was struggling before the finish bend and finished a well beaten fourth.

Just Believe, who campaigned so well during a three-race Swedish raid in the middle of last year, has raced 10 times since returning home for nine wins and a second.

He’s now won 27 of his 70 starts with another 21 placings and banked over $1.1 million.

Just Believe’s next major target is another overseas trip for the inaugural $575,000 TAB Trot slot race at Cambridge in New Zealand on April 12.