By Adam Hamilton
Leap To Fame’s $1m IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup quest is not over, but it is hanging by a thread.
The champion Aussie pacer was sensationally scratched this afternoon from tomorrow night’s $300,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup at Melton where he was a dominant $1.20 favourite.
Trainer-driver Grant Dixon confirmed the five-year-old was battling “a virus of some sort.”
It ruined his chance to become only the second pacer to win Australia’s pacing “Gland Slam” – the Victoria Cup, Hunter Cup, Inter Dominion and Miracle Mile. The only horse to win all four is Kiwi-bred and former WA-trained champion Preux Chevalier way back in 1984-85.
But the broader issue is the impact the setback has on Leap To Fame’s preparation for what would be his first trip to New Zealand.
Leap To Fame was the $1.60 NZ Cup favourite before this health setback. He is now at $2.50, equal with Merlin.
As it stands, he is still booked on a flight from Sydney to Auckland and then down to Christchurch on November 3. The IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup is nine days later, on Tuesday, November 12.
But owner Kevin Seymour admitted the trip was now in serious doubt.
“It’s not looking good, no,” he said. “We looked at the Victoria Cup as not just an important race itself, but also crucial to his preparation for a tough race like the 3200m of the NZ Cup.
“Now he’s missed this and some work as well, we may not be able to get the right preparation for him.
“It’s just devastating to miss the Victoria Cup after we took the step of taking him down by road when we couldn’t get a suitable flight and now we’re in a tough spot for the NZ trip, too.
“We have never and will never take any risk at all with this horse. He’s a once in a lifetime horse, one Kay (Seymour’s wife) and I have spent 50 years in this game waiting for.
“As disappointing as it is to miss this race, we’ll pull the pin on the NZ trip as well, if that’s what is best for the horse.”
Dixon added the next few days would decide the NZ trip.
“It’s not looking good, put it that way,” he said. “But let’s see how he is over the next two or three days and see what lead-up racing we might be able to get into him in Sydney.”
Dixon said $3.2 million-earner “didn’t seem himself” early today, prompting him to call the vet.
“It’s nothing bad, but the vet said he’s about 80 per cent and we could still probably run him, but we’re never going to take any risk at all with a horse like him,” he said.
“It’s a virus of some sort. You could tell just by looking at him, he didn’t quite seem himself.
“It’s huge disappointment after coming all this way (from Brisbane by road), but we’ve been really lucky with illness and injury throughout his career so far. It’s horses for you, I guess.”