By Adam Hamilton
A big form guide to Cambridge’s Night of Champions is in Australia not New Zealand this weekend.
That’s because megastars Leap To Fame, Don Hugo and The Locomotive all step out for their final lead-up races before crossing the ditch.
Leap to Fame, a clear favourite for the $1m Race by betcha at Cambridge on Friday, April 4, will start from the outside (gate six) against just five rivals in a 1660m free-for-all at Albion Park on Saturday night (11.25pm).
“He needed a run so it wasn’t a month between races and this timing works ideally,” trainer-driver Grant Dixon.
“He normally comes through his races really well, but the Miracle Mile took a bit out of him. He lost a bit of weight.
“I don’t know if it was a combination of the travel and sitting parked in a 1min48sec mile, but we knew he’d had a run.
“That’s why we wanted to get him back home where he thrives, rather than go early to NZ, which we had talked about.
“He’s bounced back well and is booked on a flight across to Auckland on Sunday week.”
Don Hugo and The Locomotive will step-out at Menangle on Saturday night.
In contrast to Leap To Fame, Don Hugo’s trainer-driver Luke McCarthy said his pacer had blossomed since the Miracle Mile win last Saturday week.
“He’s unreal. He’s pulled up better than ever,” he said. “He’s really in the zone and now fully matured as a five-year-old.”
Don Hugo will have to overcome an outside draw (he will start from gate 10) in a 1609m free-for-all (11.02pm).
Against that, his rivals are very much second-tier open-class pacers like Terry (gate four), Tay Tay (five), Im The Falcon (seven), Kingmaker (eight) and Kanena Provlima (nine).
“I’m glad this race held up, it’s perfect to have this run two weeks out from the Cambridge race,” McCarthy said.
“It will be great to get back to NZ. It’s a really exciting time in the industry over there at the moment, there seems a real buzz.”
McCarthy is looking forward to Don Hugo’s third clash with Leap To Fame with the scoreline at 1-1.
“Can’t wait. He’s a great horse Leap To Fame, but we’ve shown we can beat him now and my horse just continues to get better and better,” he said.
The Locomotive, one of the big guns for the $650,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge, will start from gate eight in a 1609m free-for-all at Menangle (11.32pm).
He is in the unfamiliar situation of having been beaten at his past three starts, the most recent when fourth after sitting parked outside Keayang Chucky in the Group 1 Hammerhead Trotters’ Mile at Menangle on Miracle Mile night.
The enigmatic London To A Brick, who showed his best with a second in the Hammerhead, looks The Locomotive’s biggest rival from gate four.
