By Adam Hamilton
Addington, here we come.
Leap To Fame locked in his first trip across the ditch for the $1m IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup with a dominant win at Menangle last night.
It was everything trainer-driver Grant Dixon and owner Kevin Seymour hoped for after his recent health scare.
“You couldn’t ask for more. He won well, did it easily, ran a quick time and came through it really well,” Seymour said.
“We’re off the NZ Cup now and can’t wait to get there.
“It’s race we’ve been excited about for a long time and now we can get excited again because he’s going.
“He’s booked on the flight next Sunday and, all going well, it means he can run in the Cup Trial at Addington the week before.
“That’s the plan, but plans can change. It’s up to Grant. If he thinks he’s travelled and settled well and thinks another hit out like that would help, then he’ll go to the Cup trial.”
Leap To Fame’s win last night was his first start since winning the Group 3 Smoken Up Sprint at Melton on October 5.
Six days later, on the eve of the Group 1 Victoria Cup, Leap To Fame was scratched from the race with a virus.
It cast grave doubts on the planned NZ trip, but a speedy recovery turned things around.
“There were a few days there when I didn’t think we’d go, I’ll be honest,” Seymour said.
“You think to yourself how hard a race it (NZ Cup) is to win. How gruelling a race it is.
“And, in those days after the Victoria Cup, we wondered whether any setback at all would make it hard to have him exactly where we want him, where we need him, for a race like the NZ Cup.
“But Grant’s been so happy with him in Sydney and we had this race to test him out.
“He’s back right where we want him. He’s good to go.”
Leap To Fame’s win was his 44th from just 55 starts and he’s banked $3,248,810.
Following his win last night, the five-year-old firmed from $1.80 to $1.55 to win the NZ Cup.
He is trying to become just the third Aussie-trained winner of the NZ Cup since My Lightning Blue way back in 1987.
The others were Kerryn Manning’s Arden Rooney in 2015 and Swayzee for Jason Grimson last year.
