Australia’s leading stake earner Leap To Fame (Bettor’s Delight) scored one of his greatest victories when he narrowly grabbed Kingman for a memorable harness racing win in the $150,000 Group 1 Decron Cranbourne Gold Cup on Saturday evening.

This was Leap To Fame’s third successive Cranbourne Cup win and in many ways it was probably his finest in the manner that he did so.

It was the first occasion that three of Australia’s leading pacers would clash as Swayzee had come down to supplement the glamour field.

The incident earlier in the day when Kingman was involved in a float incident on the way to the course was cause for him easing in the betting despite being cleared to run. As a result Leap To Fame was sent out favourite.

From the mobile as expected Kingman was able to hold the lead although Leap To Fame showed surprising speed to draw alongside Kingman. Swayzee was eased back to the rear but was able to obtain a one out and two back trail.

With Kingman and Leap To Fame matching it in front it was obvious that Swayzee would not be able to go up and be stuck three wide so he was left for one last run.

LEAP TO FAME 31 JAN REPLAY

At various stages Leap To Fame appeared to match it with Kingman. Kingman let go with an explosive third quarter of 26.3 seconds and at that point it seemed that Kingman would prevail over his rivals. Just as Kingman appeared to have a winning break Leap To Fame made one more run and in a driving finish he overtook Kingman by a neck with Bulletproof Boy over five metres away in third.

Swayzee found the last two quarters too quick when out wide making his run and he finished just under ten metres from the winner beating just one home.

Grant Dixon was satisfied after the event.

He felt super the whole way. But to Kingman’s credit he had a tough trip down here with the truck and they really made a race of it.

I wasn’t even sure right on the line. I knew I got super close and it was close enough I wasn’t 100 per cent confident until the numbers went up.

The last couple of weeks as far as him being away Trista and I have been really pleased how he’s been himself. The way he’s been pulling up and eating and drinking. His performances are really standing up now.

Dixon wouldn’t commit to running at Kilmore for next week’s Cup which could then earn him a $1 million bonus if he was to win that and then the Hunter Cup the week after. But he and owner Kevin Seymour will surely be tempted.

As a rule if he’s fit and well he normally loves racing so it won’t hurt him.

After the drama of the floating incident and the delays in getting to the track Kingman was great in defeat. But as all have acknowledged so much will depend on the barrier draw in future meetings. And that also goes for Swayzee who never looked likely last night but as we all know if he was in front of his rivals it would be a different matter. The impending presence of New Zealand’s best pacer Republican Party will add to the build up.

All in all the next two Cups at Kilmore and then the ultimate Hunter Cup will be intriguing battles between the big guns however at this stage Leap To Fame is the King and he’ll be determined to maintain his winning run.

There’s certainly a lot for harness racing fans to follow in the next few weeks.

For complete race results, click here.

by Tony Milanese, for Harnesslink