Will he make it? Leap To Fame chasing last-ditch Derby flight

Kevin Seymour’s dream of winning a third derby with boom three-year-old Leap To Fame hinges squarely on a flight leaving from Brisbane tonight.

Seymour, who races the star Queensland-based pacer with wife Kay, is anticipating the horse will arrive in Melbourne during the early hours of tomorrow morning before taking his shot at the Victoria Derby heats at Melton on Saturday evening.

Plans were to have Leap To Fame here in Victoria much earlier than Thursday, but flight issues have left him stranded at trainer Grant Dixon’s property.

“If the plane doesn’t go tonight, it’s all over red rover,” Seymour told thetrots.com.au.

“That’ll be curtains for us.”

Seymour said the timing of the trip south wasn’t ideal for a Derby campaign, but hoped his horse could do enough to qualify for the Group 1 final at Melton on October 8.

“It’s cutting it a bit fine for the weekend, but we’ve got to work with what we’ve got,” he said.

“We can only do the best we can. We’ve put pressure on the airlines to make sure the flight is capable of going, and secondly, that the box arrives up here in time.

“If we get him down Thursday morning, I think that’ll be okay because we will have worked him here on Wednesday before he goes down.”

Leap To Fame has won 14 of 19 career starts, including triumphs in the New South Wales and Queensland derbies earlier this year.

“Owners are dreamers and we’ve dreamt of winning the three eastern seaboard derbies in the one year,” Seymour said.

The son of Bettors Delight has drawn barrier 11 in the second of two Victoria Derby heats on Saturday night, one spot inside series favourite Captain Ravishing.

Catch A Wave, the other horse highly fancied in the Derby market alongside Leap To Fame and Captain Ravishing, will look to overcome barrier 12 in the first of the qualifiers.

“I think Catch A Wave and Captain Ravishing are outstanding horses,” Seymour said.

“The disadvantage we’ve got is the travelling, settling him in, making sure that he settles in and eats and drinks.

“There’s a lot against us. And we’re not going to go into the heats with any expectation at all. We just hope that he’s able to qualify. We’re certainly not expecting him to win the heats or anything like that because everything has gone against us.”