Leap To Fame - 2026 Garrards Miracle Mile Winner. Photo by Club Menangle (PacePix)
A FUTURE great, an established great and one of the greatest of them all made it a Miracle Mile night to remember at Tabcorp Park Menangle tonight.
Leap To Fame stole the show with a win that even the greatest adjectives cannot do justice.
His win in the $1m Garrards Miracle Mile really had to be seen to believed and left harness racing royalty Kevin and Kay Seymour gobsmacked with delight at possibly their champion’s greatest victory.
Earlier wins by Keayang Zahara (Yabby Dam Farms Hammerhead Trotters Mile) and Hollywood Strip (Slingsby Holdings NSW Derby) made for a champagne night’s harness racing on a night few on-track fans will ever forget.
After watching Keayang Zahara score the 27th win of her stellar 28-start career, little did fans know that the racing was only just hotting up.
Zahara beat her stablemate Jilliby Ballerini in an awesome display of square-gaiting which saw her run the equal fastest Australian Mile for a trotter, 1:51.5 set by Maori Time in 2018.
Then Brad Hewitt’s potential superstar Hollywood Strip raced without cover before scoring his eighth successive win from an eight-start career when he took out the Derby, beating Soho Charmer and Yottie in a 1:49.8 mile rate.
That simply set the stage for Leap To Fame to prove he was the real superstar of the night, outstaying his rivals after one of the hardest runs of his life, rating 1:49 to beat fellow Queenslander The Janitor and defending Miracle Mile champion Don Hugo in a win that had to be seen to be believed.
His trainer-driver Grant Dixon said: “I really never thought I would have a horse good enough to contest all these great races.
“He’s simply amazing,” he told a massive Menangle crowd.
“He felt good in the warm-up so I knew he was ready to run a great race.
“This is pretty much a dream come true.
“It’s just so rewarding to be a part of this horse. He is a freak.
“And he just keeps doing it for us.”
Seymour said he just hoped that Leap To Fame would get all the plaudits he deserved when future fans studied the history of harness racing.
“Being involved with him is as exciting as any sport in the world could possibly be.
“And yes, this is as good as it gets.”
Leap To Fame has now won two Miracle Miles and finished runner-up to Don Hugo in 2025 and will forever go down as one of the greatest we’ve seen at Tabcorp Park Menangle.
The night was made even more memorable when legendary Australian rock band The Angels played some of their greatest hits before the evening closed with an After The Last Party in the King Of Swing Pavilion.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION TELEPHONE CLUB MENANGLE RACING MANAGER DAVID WONSON ON (02) 4645-2200.
