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Big time race driver Luke McCarthy won his 90th Group 1 race when Don Hugo (Art Major) edged out his key harness racing rivals Leap To Fame and The Janitor in a thrilling Group 1 $250,000 Blacks a Fake Queensland Championship at Albion Park on Saturday evening.
Punters surged to support Leap To Fame into favouritism ahead of Don Hugo.
Tactics at the start dictated how the race would shape out. As expected McCarthy found the early lead with Don Hugo and Betterthancash took a trail behind the leader.
No sooner had the field settled down then Grant Dixon took off on Leap To Fame but Pete McMullen decided to go out in front of him and they moved up to Don Hugo. The three were locked together before McCarthy wisely elected to take a trail behind The Janitor which meant that Leap To Fame was caught outside the leader.
It was obvious that these three would fight out the finish a long way from home and the crowd was kept guessing when Leap To Fame started to slowly gather in The Janitor who was still giving plenty in the lead. Don Hugo was desperately looking for an inside and it came half way down the straight. Just as Leap To Fame drew alongside The Janitor, Don Hugo sprinted through and right on the line he edged out Leap To Fame by a short half head with The Janitor a head away.
DON HUGO DEC 6 REPLAY
The mile rate of 1.52.8 equalled Leap To Fame’s track record set in July 2024 when he won the Blacks A Fake.
Owner Tony Licastro was clearly emotional after the event.
I was confident we had him in his best condition. They were massive runs by all three horses. But I’d thought he’d run second or third.
By contrast Luke McCarthy stated
I’d thought he’d got there right on the line. The Miracle Mile will be his longer term aim but we need to sit down and work out where he will race next.
McCarthy has had a big year with his stars of the stable Don Hugo and more recently Kingman and he will be looking at the Grand Circuit for next year.
Don Hugo came to Brisbane as a last minute change when his initial aim of the New South Wales Carnival of Cups was thwarted three weeks ago when he was narrowly defeated by Captains Knock at Wagga.
Despite his loss Leap To Fame is still crowned Grand Circuit Champion for the last three years. Whilst nothing can be taken away from Don Hugo, Leap To Fame was magnificent in defeat having to work so hard. In retrospect his undoing may well have been a result of having to race three wide for that little bit longer than what Grant Dixon would have wanted and he was only just narrowly beaten.
Pete McMullen was very pleased with the effort of The Janitor who’s now proved beyond doubt that he is in the big time and likely to participate in feature races to come. For the time being McMullen indicated that The Janitor will now go to the paddock but at this stage is undecided as to what his future program could be going into next year.
For complete race results, click here.
by Tony Milanese, for Harnesslink
