By Adam Hamilton
Champion pacer Leap To Fame’s roller coaster IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup raid is over.
Trainer-driver Grant Dixon ordered one final precautionary blood test before Sunday’s planned flight from Sydney to Auckland and the news was bad.
“It’s over,” Leap To Fame’s owner Kevin Seymour said, “just when we thought things were back on track, his blood is out again. It seems every time we work him hard, it flares something up.
“It’s devastating. We’ve planned this trip for so long, but the horse has and always will come first.
“There’s no way we can risk travelling with him if his blood isn’t spot on.”
The latest twist comes after an unsatisfactory blood test caused Leap To Fame to be pulled off a planned flight to Auckland last Sunday.
And last month he was scratched on the eve of the Group 1 Victoria Cup as a $1.20 favourite with a virus.
“We’ve been so lucky so far with injury and fitness, but the past few weeks have been frustrating,” Dixon said.
Leap To Fame, Australasia’s dominant force in recent years, was a $1.60 favourite to win next Tuesday.
Seymour said Leap To Fame’s setback also threatened his Inter Dominion title defence in NSW, starting on November 29.
“We’re not thinking of that at the moment,” Seymour said. “We need to get back home (to Queensland) and get him right again.
“Before we can think about the Inter Dominion, we need to know he’s totally over whatever is bothering him.
“The frustrating part is that outwardly, Grant can’t fault him.
“But there is something there lurking, something which he aggravates when we put him under the stress of fast work or a race.
“So, there’s no chance we would risk putting him on a plane.”
With Leap To Fame out, his half-brother Swayzee, the defending champion, is $3 equal favourite for Tuesday’s $1m NZ Cup with local star Merlin.
Remarkably, Swayzee will race at Young tonight (Friday) before boarding a flight to Auckland and then another down to Christchurch on Sunday.