Leap To Fame could chase another career first

by Adam Hamilton

For the past three years, the passionate harness folk in Western Australia have been watching in awe with a slice of jealousy as the great Leap To Fame has gone on his feature race rampage.

From his own backyard at Albion Park, to Melton, Menangle and regional or country tracks like Newcastle, Cranbourne, Redcliffe, Kilmore, and Shepparton.

Leap To Fame has even been to New Zealand twice, both islands in fact.

But his army of adoring Western Australia fans felt destined never to see him in the flesh.

As he neared his eighth birthday, a trip right across Australia was simply not an option owners Kevin and Kay Seymour or co-trainers Grant and Trista Dixon would consider.

That may have changed in the blink of an eye.

Well, with the scrapping of another race to be precise.

For the past two years in April, Leap To Fame’s diary has been blocked out. It was again for next April.

Cambridge in New Zealand’s North Island was his one-race target.

Leap To Fame made one of the biggest statements of his stellar career to win the $1 million Race by Betcha in 2025 at Cambridge, turning the tables in the most emphatic and crushing fashion on Don Hugo, who had beaten him a month earlier in the Miracle Mile at Menangle.

Somehow, about five months ago, Leap To Fame raised the bar of his greatness yet again with the most dominant win of his almost 100-start career when he returned to Cambridge for the slightly re-named Race by Sport Nation.

He didn’t just win, but thrashed the best field assembled yet this year in the most awe-inspiring of title defenses.

In the euphoria of the moment, Seymour was moved to break the news all fans hoped for, Leap To Fame would not go to stud this year. He would race on for another season with a Cambridge three-peat a driving factor.

“We love this race,” Seymour said. “Coming here to win not once but twice has been up with the greatest thrills the horse has given us.

“The people here [in New Zealand] have taken us in so well. The way they appreciate our horse is something really special.

“We can’t wait to come back and try to do it all again next year.”

But there will be no next year for Cambridge and its $1 million slot race.

Politics and financial constraints in New Zealand harness racing have seen a raft of cuts, headed by the abolition of not just the $1 million pacing slot race, but also the $600,000 trotting slot race.

It’s a blow for New Zealand and the broader game Down Under.

But it’s a win for Western Australia and its passionate harness racing fans and participants.

Until now, Western Australia’s richest race, the $1.25 million Group 1 Nullarbor (slot race) has basically clashed with Cambridge’s race.

Although run in Australia, Perth is so far from Brisbane, it’s a much easier trip and travel schedule for Leap To Fame (and many other star pacers) to go to Cambridge, via a direct flight from Sydney into Auckland.

That’s been a driving force in Cambridge’s race being stronger than Western Australia, especially drawing Leap To Fame.

But all that’s changed.

The Nullarbor now has no opposition. It’s got its own blank (and very attractive) slot in the feature race calendar.

And when you add in the fact the $300,000 Group 1 Fremantle Cup is run a week after the Nullarbor, the best pacers can race for $1.55 million in the space of a week at the same track.

There is no doubt this will be by far the strongest Nullarbor yet on April 23 at Gloucester Park.

But will Leap To Fame be there?

His team is hedging their bets, but the fact is we should definitely know in the next couple of weeks.

On Monday (Sept. 7), the bids for slots in next year’s Nullarbor closed.

History says the Seymours, just as they did at Cambridge, will buy their own slot if they intend to take Leap To Fame.

Presuming Western Australia officials only need a week or so to process the bids, we should know by mid-to-late September if Leap To Fame will chase another first in his remarkable career.

Not only has Leap To Fame never raced in Western Australia, but his champion trainer/driver Grant Dixon has not taken a horse west across a 35-year career.

Go back another 20 or so years when Dixon’s father, Bill trained, and he never went west, either.

But this is a farewell tour of sorts for Leap To Fame.

It will be his last year of racing, most likely culminating with a fourth Inter Dominion campaign in his own backyard, Albion Park, next July.

Then it’s let down time before starting stud duties, either in Australia or New Zealand.

Despite the fact the Seymours have said they will manage his racing schedule more in this twilight of his career, it just makes sense for Leap To Fame to tackle the Nullarbor.

He’s nearing a racetrack return now but won’t go to the Group 1 Victoria Cup at Melton on Oct. 17.

Instead, he will be held back and try to chase his first win in the iconic New Zealand Cup on Nov. 10 in Christchurch.

Then he’s back home for the Group 1 Blacks A Fake in early December.

Unlike last year, Leap To Fame won’t tackle a string of races in Victoria during the summer. It’s more likely just one lead-up race, maybe in the Cranbourne Cup, before chasing his second win in the Group 1 Hunter Cup.

Then comes the Miracle Mile in March.

Without Cambridge, there is now a big gap between the Miracle Mile on March 13 and the start of the Brisbane Inter Dominion in early July.

The Nullarbor fits perfectly.

Perth has such a proud and rich harness racing history and produced some of the greatest pacers Australasia has seen.

Preux Chevalier, Im Themightyquinn, Village Kid, Pure Steel, Mount Eden, San Simeon, Satinover, Jack Morris, The Falcon Strike, and Baltic Eagle are just some of the superstars to hail from the west.

A few years back the great Kiwi Lazarus made a huge splash when he went to Perth and won an Inter Dominion final.

But Leap To Fame going would be next level.

He is at least the equal of any pacer who has come before him Down Under.

Winning in front of a packed Gloucester Park, with all its wonderful history of magic moments, would add another layer to his greatness.

That’s a moment I’d want to be trackside for.

Surely that’s just too tempting for the Seymours and Dixons not to give it a crack?