Leap To Fame (Left) running 2nd in the 2026 Inter Dominion final
EVEN in defeat, the great Leap To Fame was a winner.
Somehow, the enormity of his performance to overcome the adversity he did and get so close to a champion mare in Captains Mistress and in record-smashing time actually added to his greatness.
That was clear when Leap To Fame was given a standing ovation and huge cheer from the sell-out Albion Park crowd as he returned to the stables in the moments after last Saturday night’s $1 million Ladbrokes Inter Dominion final.
And in finishing second, he has effectively cemented an unprecedented fourth successive Australian Grand Circuit champion title.
The 60 points for second took him to 220 points with just three legs to go.
With Swayzee (120 points) sidelined and Inter Dominion winner Captains Mistress (100 points) set to tackle at most one of those remaining three races, the title is as good as lock for Leap To Fame.
Owner Kevin Seymour said Leap To Fame won’t tackle the next leg, the $250,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup on October 17, and he certainly won’t go to the WA Pacing Cup.
Meaning the $250,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake in December at Albion Park will be his only other Grand Circuit start for the season.
Leap To Fame will become the only pacer to win four Grand Circuit champion titles since its inception in 1977.
The rising eight-year-old currently shares the record on three with King Of Swing (2020, ’21 and ’22), Westburn Grant (1990, ’91 and ’92) and Gammalite (1982, ’83 and ’84).
It’s fitting he will stand alone on four as the greatest pacer of all-time in this part of the world.
Excitingly, Seymour confirmed he would race on and get a chance at a fifth title next season.
“He’s definitely not going to stud this year, so will sit down soon and look at his targets for the rest of this year,” he said.
“The only definite is the Blacks A Fake. We won’t plan anything for next year until we get through the Blacks A Fake.
“We’re adopting a ‘one-race-at-a-time’ approach now he’s getting older.
“The moment he tells us he’s had enough of racing, we will retire him, but he’s certainly not showing it yet.
“He pulled up great after the Inter Dominion and will have a short break now before we decide what he does between now and the Blacks A Fake.”
Captains Mistress snared 100 Grand Circuit points for the Inter Dominion win, to add to the 10 she got for that desperately unlucky fifth in the Miracle Mile on March 14.
She moved into third spot behind Leap To Fame and Swayzee on the Grand Circuit table.
PHOTO: Toby Coutts
