Leap To Fame stays home on Victoria Cup night

While the country’s best open class pacers line up in the SEN Victoria Cup at Melton on Saturday night, the most popular of them all will be racing at home in Brisbane.

Leap To Fame (Bettors Delight – Lettucereason) has drawn barrier two in the seven-horse Somerset Farms Open Pace over 2138m at Albion Park, with Grant Dixon back in the harness racing sulky.

The seven-year-old has won both his starts since returning from a spell, and Saturday’s run is another step on a path built around the New Zealand Cup in Christchurch on November 10. Dixon confirmed in August that the stable would bypass the Victoria Cup this year and try a different approach.

He has finished third in the race twice, in 2023 and again last year.

“We’ve tried to win that a few times and haven’t,” Dixon said.

Leap To Fame resumed at Albion Park on September 26, winning by 6.7 metres over 1660m in 1:49.1 at $1.12. A week later he stepped up to 2138m and won by 3.1 metres at $1.04.

That second win carried extra meaning. Co-trainer Trista Dixon, who works alongside Grant with the champion every day, took the reins for the first time.

It was the first race drive on him by anyone other than Grant since Robert Morris in October 2021.

Dixon said after the comeback win that the plan was to stretch him out to 2138m, skip a week and race again on October 17. He may have one more start after that before flying to New Zealand from Sydney on November 3.

It has been another remarkable year. From 17 starts in 2026, Leap To Fame has won 14 and finished second in the other three, earning $1,547,879.

His wins include the Ballarat Cup, the Cranbourne Gold Cup, the Kilmore Pacing Cup and the Miracle Mile at Menangle, plus the $1 million The Race at Cambridge in April, which he won by 21 metres. The Miracle Mile came by a half neck at $2.70, a week after a 1:48.6 sprint win at the same track, his fastest winning mile rate this year.

His three defeats were all seconds: to Kingman in the Shepparton Cup, to Swayzee by 0.8 metres in the A G Hunter Cup, and to Captains Mistress by 1.2 metres in the Inter Dominion final at Albion Park in July.

On Saturday he meets six rivals: Catseye Beach, Cosmic Flyer, stablemate Free Thinker, Smarter Than You, Hot And Treacherous NZ and District Attorney. The race is set down for 8.45pm.

This is expected to be his final campaign, with Leap To Fame due to retire to stud after next July’s Inter Dominion in Brisbane. It is a day the stable is not looking forward to.

“We’re dreading the day he leaves the place to go to stud,” Dixon said.

Leap To Fame is a horse bred by Redbank Lodge Standardbreds, trained by Grant and Trista Dixon and owned by Solid Earth Pty Ltd. Solid Earth is also one of the 10 slot holders for the $1.5 million TAB Eureka at Menangle on November 21.

He has won 74 of his 94 starts, with 15 seconds and three thirds, for $6,555,113 in stakes.

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by Harnesslink Media