By Adam Hamilton
Champion Aussie pacer Leap To Fame is still a huge chance of contesting Tuesday week’s $1m IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup at Addington Raceway despite a shock twist to his trip yesterday.
Trainer-driver Grant Dixon said he was “almost fully packed and ready to go” when a precautionary blood test showed Leap To Fame’s levels weren’t quite right.
“I was surprised, shocked even,” Dixon said. “He’d gone so well at Menangle last Saturday night winning and everything seemed good this week.
“I just thought I’d take a precautionary blood test from him and Aroda before we took them all that way and didn’t give it much more than that.
“I couldn’t believe it when it came back and his level was out a bit and the vet said we’d be better not taking any risk by travelling him.
“In himself he seems fine and if I hadn’t done the blood test, he’d have been on that flight.”
Leap To Fame had been expected to arrive in Christchurch later tonight (Sunday). Dixon said Tuesday was now D-Day.
“They do final field (for the NZ Cup) on Wednesday and I don’t want to stuff them around, so I said I’ll get another blood done Tuesday and we’ll tell them if he’s still going across,” he said.
“As I said, he seems fine, so I’m hoping whatever it was is gone by Tuesday.
“If the bloods are good Tuesday, there’s a flight he can get on next Sunday.
“While it’s not how we’d like to do it, we’ll still take him.
“I’d say, if the Tuesday bloods are good, I might get one more done next Saturday before we put him on the flight the day after.”
The usually unflappable Dixon admitted it had been “a frustrating few weeks.”
“I can’t complain too much because we’ve had such a great run with him as far as injury and health goes, but we’ve had some ups and downs these past few weeks,” he said.
“It’s a big thing to go over there (NZ) and race and we’re seeing that now.”
Leap To Fame’s first hiccup came when he was scratched from the Group 1 Victoria Cup as a $1.20 favourite on the eve of the race.
That put his NZ trip in serious doubt, but an impressive Menangle win last Saturday turned things around.
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Star Aussie trotter Callmethebreeze’s New Zealand trip is off.
But his trainer Andy Gath is pushing ahead with plans to have former Miracle Mile winner Catch A Wave on Tuesday’s flight from Melbourne to Auckland.
“As hopeful as we were and as much as we tried, Callmethebreeze’s foot still isn’t right,” Gath said.
“We tried some remedial shoeing, but it hasn’t worked like we hoped. He’s not going to NZ.
“We’ll give him a break now and he won’t be seen until next year. Hopefully, he recovers in time for us to get him right for the Great Southern Star.
“It’s disappointing, but he’s still relatively young for a trotter (six) with plenty of racing ahead of him when we get him right again.”
Catch A Wave only finished sixth to in-form former Kiwi pacer Cantfindabettorman in last night’s $50,000 Group 3 4 & 5YO Championship at Melton.
“It doesn’t read well, but he was a mile off the two dangers, who were first and second in the run, and his sectional times were terrific,” Gath said.
“I know he was still beaten a long way and he got a bit tired in the last 30m or so, but I was happy enough with the run.
“The owners are keen to go and, for some reason, he seems to do his best racing away from home these days.”
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Team Bond has found its next stable star with recent Kiwi import Christopher Dance.
The Sweet Lou colt made it three wins from as many WA starts when he destroyed his rivals in last Friday night’s $200,000 Group 1 WA Derby at Gloucester Park.
It was Team Bond’s fifth win in the classic, the most recent coming with Patronus Star in 2020.
Christopher Dance could not have been more impressive, drifting back to last from a despised outside front row draw before grabbing a three-wide trail home and putting the race away quickly on the home bend.
He roared away to win by 10.5m in a slick 1min56sec mile rate for the long 2536m trip, taking 0.1sec off the race record of Mighty Ronaldo from three years ago.
It was a terrific drive and fourth Group 1 win for the outstanding 29-year-old Deni Roberts.
Team Bond had five of the 12 Derby runners and the other eye-catcher was fourth-placed Golden Lode, who was caught in traffic at a crucial stage and did a mighty job to finish fourth.
On the same card, Team Bond’s star mare Aardiebytheseaside returned to winning form ahead of WA’s biggest mares’ races, starting with Friday night’s $100,000 Group 2 Norms Daughter Classic.
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The gamble to take talented Victorian comeback pacer Captain Ravishing to Perth has already paid dividends.
The one-time pin-up pacer of Australia opened his WA campaign with a sparkling win in last Friday night’s $50,000 Group 3 Navy Cup at Gloucester Park.
It was the perfect pipe-opener to next Friday’s $450,000 Group 1 WA Pacing Cup.
Sure, his opposition will be much stronger next week, but Captain Ravishing’s class and speed will make a serious player with the right run.
It was only Captain Ravishing’s fifth run back from 10 months on the sidelines and he’s won 12 of his 23 starts.
The win continued the stunning success of Victorian raiders in WA, following Catch A Wave winning the huge Nullarbor/Fremantle Cup double back in April.
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No wonder Like A Wildfire is a real stable favourite for Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin.
The premier stable is best known for its amazing success with young horses, but former Kiwi gelding Like A Wildfire is a rising 10-year-old.
And he added another feature win with a typically tough performance in the Swan Hill Pacing Cup (2790m) last Friday night.
Despite coming from last and doing the work outside the leader, Like A Wildfire won comfortably and took 0.2sec off the track record with a slick 1min56.1sec mile rate.
It was his 29th win and took Like A Wildfire’s earnings to $445,526.
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While Jess Tubbs and Greg Sugars prepare for their big NZ raid, stable favourite Triple Eight showed what a marvel he is again at Melton last night.
The Kiwi-bred rising 10-year-old defied his age and a tough run to win the Melton free-for-all in a slick 1min52.2sec mile rate for 1720m with James Herbertson aboard.
Triple Eight’s won 27 of his 147 starts with 48 placings. He’s now over $860,000 in career earnings.
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Young gun driver Jason Lee was another who tuned-up for his NZ Cup Week trip when he brilliantly won the Aldebaran Park Trotters’ free-for-all (1720m) at Melton last night.
The emerging Keayang Chucky ripped to the front and never looked in danger, racing clear to win by 10.6m in a brisk 1min55sec mile rate.
Lee will head to New Zealand to unbeaten filly Keayang Zahara who is a hot favourite in the brand new $500,000 Majestic Horse Floats LP THE ASCENT at Addington Raceway on Friday, November 15.
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Kiwi-BRED filly Waterfront brilliantly won last night’s $40,000 Tasmanian Oaks in Hobart.
It was the filly’s ninth win from as many starts since joining Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin’s stable in Victoria.
Stewart and Tonkin also won the Tasmanian Derby on the same card with the talented Always B Miki colt Kingman.
