Entrée night turned into so much more at Melton last Saturday.
The almost unthinkable defeat of Leap To Fame and the mesmerizing first-up win of Keayang Zahara left us all gasping (albeit in different ways), talking, wondering and wanting more.
And more comes in just five days.
Let’s start with Leap To Fame.
Nobody saw that coming. What was supposed to be a formality became the biggest shock in Victorian harness racing for almost 26 years.
Not since Courage Under Fire’s unbeaten 24-race winning streak ended at Moonee Valley on January 22, 2000 has there been a bigger upset.
Is Leap To Fame’s Victoria Cup hoodoo real?
That was just the 14th time in his 71 starts career he’s been beaten.
The Victoria Cup is the one traditional Aussie “major” to have eluded Leap To Fame. He’s tried twice for a close and mighty third in 2023 before being scratched just days before last year’s Cup with a throat infection.
What do we read into last Saturday’s loss?
It certainly wasn’t the Leap To Fame we know and love.
Did the quick turnaround from arriving in Melbourne on Friday morning to racing impact him?
Did he just have a (very rare for him) off night?
Or was it another “Redcliffe” moment?
Back on June 21, last year, District Attorney stalked Leap To Fame around Redcliffe and simply beat him for a sheer burst of speed.
It’s what old marvel Bulletproof Boy did last Saturday, but from three back on the pegs.
Leap To Fame bounced straight back from that Redcliffe defeat to win his next nine starts, including the Sunshine Sprint and Blacks A Fake at Group 1 level.
In fact, last Saturday was just the third time Leap To Fame has been beaten in 23 starts since the Redcliffe blip.
Was this just another blip?
What the defeat has done is give others – especially the Kingman, Catch A Wave and Bay Of Biscay teams – hope next Saturday.
That hope will soar if Leap To Fame draws poorly tomorrow at 10am (Melbourne time) when the barriers are plucked for the Cup live on Sky Racing.
In all of the “what just happened” hysteria, the monumental trainer effort of Scotty Ewen with rising 11-year-old Bulletproof Boy got largely lost. What a performance by horse and trainer at his first run since June.
While the rumblings of Leap To Fame’s defeat still resonated, young trotting queen, Keayang Zahara, restored some normality about 30 minutes later.
The symmetry was sublime.
Just a few months earlier, Keayang Zahara had sparked similar shock when her unbeaten 15-race streak came to an end at Menangle on May 10.
Reminding how good she was while still carrying some extra pudding, Keayang Zahara gave Inter Dominion champion Arcee Phoenix a 40m start with a lap to go and romped in.
It was brilliant and mesmerizing.
But hold-off a day or two before you unload on her for this Saturday’s Group 1 Bill Collins Sprint at Melton.
Driver Jason Lee warned: “She might run, she’ll probably run, but it’s not ideal giving her two runs in a week after so long out. The team at home will weigh everything up and make a decision Monday night.
You can’t be any more open and honest.
The Bill Collins is a big race, but much bigger races, possibly all around the world, await this generationally great young trotter.
And let’s not forget Team Lee has Jilliby Ballerini in the Bill Collins, too.
Last Saturday week it was her we were in raptures about.
Throw in a Victoria Derby with depth, the Oaks, the clash of Tracy The Jet and Gatesys Gem in the Trotters’ Oaks and more.
This will be some Victoria Cup night.
