Leap To Fame’s Hunter Cup

The Miracle Mile awaits for Leap To Fame (Bettor’s Delight) after the Queensland harness racing superstar took out the Group 1 $500,000 A G Hunter Cup at Melton.

Sent out a $1.40 favorite, Leap To Fame made a successful foray forward to wrest the lead off Catch A Wave with two laps to travel and Grant Dixon was allowed to dictate the terms of the race to suit himself.

Dixon released the reins on Leap To Fame down the back and the four-year-old son of Bettors Delight threw a 27.1 back straight quarter at his rivals before reeling off a 27.2 last 400 metres.

The Mark and Nathan Purdon trained four-year-old Don’t Stop Dreaming ran a blinder making up many lengths inside the final 400 metres to finish within a metre and a half of Leap To Fame.

WHAT A HORSE! WHAT A CHAMPION!

Leap To Fame a dominant force, winning the @SEN_Track A G Hunter Cup for Queensland's Grant Dixon.
A brilliant horse worthy of Australia's pacing heavyweight championship! pic.twitter.com/xRAChzFw5U

— The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) February 3, 2024

Dixon said Leap To Fame is a once in a lifetime horse.

“It’s great, I’ve been in the sport a long time and it’s taken a long time to get to some of these great races and I’m so pleased to finally get a horse to do what he’s doing,” Dixon said.

“It’s great to share the ride with Kevin and Kaye (Seymour) and obviously they’ve been in the sport a long time too and they’ve entrusted us with this horse,” he said.

Dixon admitted he thought the front was up for grabs should he go looking.

“I thought Catch a Wave would be happy to sit on me and she didn’t try to hold me out too much, we kicked along at a reasonable pace and I was glad that he was able to hold on,” he said.

Leap To Fame won a hometown Inter Dominion in December and now with the A G Hunter Cup among his spoils he can confirm his greatness should he complete Australia harness racing’s Big Three in the Miracle Mile on March 9.

For complete race results, click here.

by John Dunne, for Harnesslink