Leap To Fame with Grant and Trista Dixon after the 2024 Hunter Cup
THIS race means a lot to Grant Dixon.
While the great Leap To Fame has nothing left to prove, winning his first iconic NZ Cup would cement the greatest CV the sport has seen.
He fell just short last year when second to compatriot Kingman when Dixon admits “he probably wasn’t absolutely 100 percent spot on”.
But there will be no excuses at Addington on Tuesday.
“This is as good a race, as hard a race to win, as any we’ve ever aimed up at,” Dixon said. “It’s as special as any race on the calendar to win in this part of the world, including the Inter Dominion, Miracle Mile and Hunter Cup.
“He went great last year, but we took him down for the Victoria Cup first and he had a few little setbacks in Melbourne, and it felt like we were then playing a bit of catch-up when we went to NZ straight after that.
“This time, we kept him at home and there’s no better place to get him absolutely spot on.
“Everything is spot on. He’s had the groundwork he needs, especially those four races, to be at his top.
“Trista (Dixon, co-trainer) and I couldn’t be happier where he’s at how he’s handled the trip over and settled in.
“We like we’ve got the best possible version of him going into Tuesday.”
Dixon knows the importance of the standing-start with his two main dangers and fellow Aussie superstars, Kingman and Swayzee, drawn inside him.
“I quite like drawing out a bit as we have. It would be a terrible draw in a mobile (start), but from the stand it suits him,” he said.
“He’ll be better for the (standing start) experience last (year) and I will be, too.
“The starts are different here to back home, they’re more of a walk up start, so you’ve got to have them ready.”
Despite being a rising eight-year-old and veteran of 96 starts, Dixon believes Leap To Fame is racing as good as ever.
“You only have to go back to that Inter Dominion final run. That was as good as any run of his career,” he said.
Swayzee, who has beaten Leap To Fame three times, and Kingman, who has upstaged him twice, look the main dangers. They’ve won the past three NZ Cups between them (Swayzee in 2023 and ’24 and Kingman last year).
Despite a nine-race losing streak, trainer-driver Luke McCarthy thinks Kingman has peaked at the right time to successfully defend his crown.
“He’s spot on and I’m sure he’ll run a great race,” he said.
Driver Cam Hart feels the same about rising nine-year-old Swayzee.
“It’s amazing after the few issues he’s had this year, but he feels right back to his best at the right time,” he said. “He’s drawn well. Hopefully he steps well, and we’ll push for the lead and then get ready to go war with Leap To Fame again as we have so many times before.”
