by Adam Hamilton

It is the clash we all desperately wanted and it has come out of the blue.

Leap To Fame and Swayzee aren’t just clearly the two best pacers Down Under, they are also siblings and the ultimate arch-rivals.

Now they will lock horns for the sixth time in Saturday (March 8) night’s $1 million Miracle Mile. The score line is 3-2 Leap To Fame’s way.

The race wasn’t even on Swayzee’s radar until he suffered a shocking defeat in the Albury Cup on Feb. 14.

In fact, fans were expecting to have to wait until the Brisbane Inter Dominion in July for the pacing giants to meet again.

But Swayzee’s Albury defeat, when he was all at sea around the tight half-mile track, changed things. It took a $1 million bonus off the table if the greater stayer won all five legs of the NSW Carnival of Cups.

Trainer Jason Grimson then dropped the bombshell that he would chase the Miracle Mile, despite the general consensus that mile racing wouldn’t be his caper.

But Grimson knew better.

Leap To Fame was first to book his Miracle Mile spot by winning last Friday’s (Feb. 21) Newcastle Mile.

Swayzee needed to win or at least finish top three in one of the two qualifying races at Menangle last night to get a spot alongside Leap To Fame in the elite eight-horse Miracle Mile field.

The 7-year-old was sublime, working three-wide in a :25.1 opening quarter, pushing forward to find the lead and posting a career best 1:48.6 mile.

“What an unbelievable horse he is,” driver Cam Hart said. “He can do it all, but that’s what champions can do. I’ve never driven a horse like him, with his will to win. How he just finds when another horse comes at him. He felt great on the line, but he always feels better on the line than he does with 200 meters to go in his races.

“I definitely wouldn’t swap him for anything else next week. He’s a huge winning chance. Jase [Grimson] will give him an easy week and he’ll be raring to go next Saturday.”

But champion driver Luke McCarthy, who won three successive Miracle Miles with King Of Swing, insists this Miracle Mile is not just a two-horse race.

McCarthy won last night’s other qualifier with the emerging Don Hugo, who came from the outside barrier, worked early, sat parked and still held-on bravely to win in 1:48.8, just slightly slower than Swayzee.

“He just keeps stepping up and you’ve got to be a really serious horse to do the work he did tonight and win,” McCarthy said. “He showed how tough he is, he’s got gate speed and he also comes off a trail really well. Give us a good draw and we’ll be right in it. It’s going to be one of the strongest Miracle Miles we’ve seen for a long time. Throw Leap To Fame and Swayzee in and we’ve got an amazing race. If we get the conditions we had tonight, they could break the track record.”

That record is My Field Marshal’s 1:46.9 in the 2018 Miracle Mile. It is also the Australasian mile record.

BAY OF BISCAY NOT MIRACLE MILE BOUND

Connections of last night’s Group 1 Chariots Of Fire winner Bay Of Biscay declined a spot in the Miracle Mile.

Winning the Chariots gets a golden ticket into Australasia’s premier speed test, but connections will instead focus on trying to go one better in the world’s richest harness race, the $2.1 million TAB Eureka at Menangle on Sept. 6.

In the moments after the Chariots win, it was revealed Bay Of Biscay was the first confirmed slot in this year’s TAB Eureka, after finishing second as a 3-year-old to Don Hugo last year.

Leviathan Western Australian owner Rob Watson snapped-up Bay Of Biscay through his Soho Standardbreds slot.

“After much deliberation, we’ve taken the advice of Emma [Stewart] and Clayton [Tonkin] and decided to decline the [Miracle Mile] invitation,” managing owner Tim Bunning said. “It’s great to have teamed with Rob [Watson] and have a Eureka slot locked-in so early, so that will be our big focus now.”

Just as he did in his qualifier, Bay Of Biscay led, controlled the race and blasted home in a :53.4 last 800 meters to win comfortably in a 1:49.1 mile.

“I’m just so happy for the horse and the owners after he’s run so many great races without winning a big one,” driver Cam Hart said. “He’s so well bred and this will help make him as a stallion for them. He’s a powerhouse, he runs quick sectionals so easily.”

Hart completed successive Chariots wins, having won aboard Frankie Ferocious last year.

It gave Stewart and Tonkin their third Chariots win, following Guaranteed in 2014 and Poster Boy in 2019.

Off the back of their Chariots win, Stewart and Tonkin have a staggering six finalists — and most of the key players — in next Saturday night’s $200,000 Group 1 NSW Derby, one of Australia’s marquee 3-year-old events.

They had already qualified the unbeaten Always Hot for Derby after his Group 1 Simpson Sprint a few weeks back got him a golden ticket.

Last night, Stewart and Tonkin won all three heats, and snared the quinella (first and second) in two of them.

It was a clinic.

The first heat went to the stunningly fast and compact The Highlight Reel, who worked to the front, dictated terms and zipped home in :54.7 and :26.2 at the end of a 1:54.3 mile rate for 2,400 meters.

It was very similar in heat two when Silver Pistol led throughout in a 1:55.3 mile rate and closing splits of :55.8 and :27.7. Stablemate I Am The Storm trailed the leader and ran second.

The race changed when key runner Hesitate broke stride early and lost all chance.

The upset came in heat three when Storms Collide led and staved-off buzz stablemate Go Miki, who trailed him, with last season’s Australian 2YO of the Year Fate Awaits a close-up third after sitting outside the winner throughout. They went 1:55.7, home in :54 flat and :26.3.

“What made the night so special is all three winners were by first season sires we trained,” Stewart said.

Poster Boy, who won the NSW Derby in 2018, sired The Highlight Reel and Silver Pistol, while The Storm Inside is the sire of Storms Collide.

Poster Boy is one of three previous NSW Derby winners for the stable. Ideal For Real (2015) and Major Secret (2014) were the others.

TOP TROTTERS CLASH ON MIRACLE MILE NIGHT

Some of Australasia’s best trotters will also be on display on Miracle Mile Night.

The Locomotive and Keayang Chucky, who finished first and second in last December’s Inter Dominion final at Menangle will clash again.

Watts Up Partytime, who upset that pair in last month’s Great Southern Star, will be there, too.

Throw in New Zealand’s rejuvenated veteran and still arguably best trotter, Oscar Bonavena, and the $100,000 Group 1 Hammerhead Mile has all the makings of a ripper race.

It is the most significant race yet as Down Under’s best trotters jostle for top seed after the retirement of the great Just Believe earlier this year.