Grant Dixon has swung a surprise change of plans in his quest to win the Cox Plate of harness racing, the Group 1 Victoria Cup, for the first time with his champion pacer Leap To Fame.
As sharp as Leap To Fame looked winning first-up at Albion Park last Saturday night, Dixon confirmed Australasia’s all-time richest pacer would back-up in the 1720m Smoken Up Sprint at Melton.
“He’s booked on a flight (from Brisbane) to Melbourne in the middle of the night Thursday (night), so will be there early Friday morning,” Dixon said.
“As long as he handles the trip well, and he’s had plenty of experience at it, we’ll run again this week.
“He won well and did it easily last Saturday, but another run will just sharpen-up that it more again.
“It’s as much about how well he thrives on racing. Going into the biggest races, he seems to love racing each week, so we’ll do that again.”
Perhaps Dixon is also mindful Leap To Fame’s only defeat in a Victoria Cup came back in 2023 when he had raced just once in the seven weeks leading into it.
Racing again this week means Saturday week’s $250,000 Victoria Cup will be Leap To Fame’s third start in as many weeks.
Having won the Inter Dominion (twice), Hunter Cup, Miracle Mile and Blacks A Fake, the Victoria Cup is the lone “mega” eastern states feature race Leap To Fame is yet to win,
Along with his close third placing in 2023, he was a dominant favourite last year, but scratched just days before the race with a throat infection.
Leap To Fame’s surprise appearance this week means he will clash for the first time with last-start TAB Eureka winner Bay Of Biscay, who is also bound for the Victoria Cup.
In more exciting news for Victorians, Dixon said Leap To Fame would have three starts at Melton this trip.
“Rather than take him all the way home, we’re going to keep him in Victoria and fly him into NZ six days before the NZ Cup (November 11),” he said.
“It makes sense to take a flight and extra flight back home and then a road trip to Brisbane out of his schedule.
“Instead, he can stay in Victoria after the Cup and fly direct from Melbourne to Auckland (and then get a connecting flight to Christchurch.
“Given it’s more than three weeks between the Victoria Cup and NZ (Cup), I’ll look to give him another race at Melton to keep him up to the mark, especially with NZ being over two miles (3200m).”
The options are a 2240m free-for-all at Melton on October 25 or a 1720m free-for-all on November 1.
The timing of the 1720m race would seem better given racing again on October 25 would mean four runs in as many weeks for Leap To Fame.
