Leap To Fame shows his champion qualities

For a fleeting moment last night at Albion Park, Australia’s leading pacer Leap To Fame (Bettors Delight) looked to be in trouble at his first start this time in what is likely to be his final season of harness racing.

Against only four rivals it looked a formality that Leap To Fame would easily account for his rivals. However amongst that group was the noted speedster Captain Shuffles who is no slouch and had recorded 1.50.8 in a previous win. Added to that there was some support for Captain Shuffles.

LEAP TO FAME 26 SEP REPLAY

And Captain Shuffles showed electrifying speed to comfortably lead. Grant Dixon in his customary style allowed Leap To Fame to settle down before allowing him to go up and face the breeze outside of Captain Shuffles with the other three runners behind in single file.

But it was obvious that Captain Shuffles was going to give the champion a run for his money. He ran his first two quarters in 26.8 and 27.7 seconds. And driver Nathan Dawson allowed Captain Shuffles to fly his third quarter in 26.6 seconds. It was at this stage that Captain Shuffles had moved away to a lead of nearly five metres and really had something for Leap To Fame to chase.

However the champion settled down to his task and half way down the straight he asserted his superiority to draw clear and record a win of just under seven metres from Captain Shuffles and Regazzo Di Tilly.

Overall Leap To Fame ran 1.49.1 which wasn’t that far away from his all time best rate of 1.48.6.

There’s no doubt that Leap To Fame can only improve on that effort as his first major task this season is the New Zealand Cup at Christchurch on 10 November. But in the meantime he is likely to have a few more starts at Albion Park before he embarks on his New Zealand sojourn.

 

For complete race results, click here.

by Tony Milanese for Harnesslink