CHAMPION pacer Leap To Fame will return to racing late next month his plans for the rest of the year are now locked in.
After a week deliberating the huge changes to the NZ landscape, including prize money cuts and the abolition of a $NZ1 million Cambridge slot race, owner Kevin Seymour and trainer-driver Grant Dixon have confirmed two major targets.
“The NZ Cup and the Blacks A Fake are the focus for the rest of this year,” Seymour said. “While we were disappointed the prize money has been cut (from $NZ1 million to $NZ800,000) for the Cup, it’s still a good option and is a race both Grant and I would love to win.
“Yes, we’ve officially notified the club we will be back in November. Whether he runs in the NZ free-for-all a few days after the Cup, like he did last year, will depend on how he comes through the Cup.”
The NZ Cup is one of just two “majors” to have escaped Leap To Fame in his record-smashing career.
The Group 1 Victoria Cup – slated for October 17 at Melton - is the other, but Dixon said that would not be a target.
“No, we’ve tried that a few times and haven’t won it, so we will do things differently this year,” he said.
Leap To Fame ran second to fellow Aussie pacer Kingman in last year’s Victoria Cup and then second to the same pacer again a month later at his only try in the NZ Cup.
“After NZ, our focus will be to ensure the horse can get back to Brisbane as soon as possible after (NZ) Cup Week to prepare for the Blacks A Fake here (Albion Park on December 5),” Seymour said.
Dixon said Leap To Fame’s preparation would work backwards from the NZ Cup.
“He’ll be back racing late next month or early October so we can get three or four runs into him before NZ. He’ll need plenty of fitness for a tough race like that,” he said.
“There are lots of options, from doing all his lead-up racing here (Albion Park), having his last run in a free-for-all at Menangle just before he flies to NZ, or even going to NZ a bit earlier and having a lead-up race there.
“I’d say going early is unlikely because it would mean so much extra time away from home.”
What’s not clear is the pathway Leap To Fame takes next year.
“Losing the Cambridge race is really unfortunate,” Dixon said. “We’re only looking as far as the Blacks A Fake for a plan at the moment, we have a rough idea what we might do next year, but we’ll finalise it all after the Blacks A Fake.
“Of course, you look at Melbourne (Hunter Cup) and the Miracle Mile again.”
With Cambridge gone, would Dixon consider his first trip to Perth, with any horse not just Leap To Fame, for the $1.25mil Nullarbor next April?
“We haven’t talked about that. It’s not an easy place to go and get back from. And some of the horses who have gone to that race, haven’t come back quite as well after the trip,” he said.
All harness fans hope Leap To Fame will return for one last crack at the Brisbane Inter Dominion at Albion Park next July before he retires to start stallion duties.
