There is a real air of anticipation about Albion Park on Saturday night.

The rise and rise of not only Queensland’s but potentially Australia’s best pacer Leap To Fame looks set to continue in a race with a short but already illustrious history.

Leap To Fame will dominate betting from any draw in the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun, an exciting new race on the calendar which has been run just twice but won by champion mares in Amazing Dream and Ladies In Red.

It’s a race built to showcase young stars of the sport and there is no brighter than Leap To Fame, not just now, but for many years.

We already knew he was very good courtesy of his three major Derby wins last season (NSW, Queensland and Victoria). He was the first pacer since the little fella Captain Joy in 2009 to do that.

Despite that hefty haul last season, he was still nursed through the year by trainer-driver Grant Dixon - having just 12 starts - with a view to the season ahead at the very top level.

Further, Dixon also opted to spell Leap To Fame longer and bypass early-season majors like the Chariots Of Fire and Miracle Mile to focus on what could be a monstrous back half of 2023.

Judging by the three runs Leap To Fame has had back from a break, Dixon’s pulled the right rein.

After two sharp but expected Albion Park wins, Dixon surprised many by taking Leap To Fame to the quirky and tight Redcliffe track for last Friday week’s Patrons Purse.

The win had to be seen to be believed.

Only the modern greats of the sport could have done what Leap To Fame did and even then, some may have struggled.

To sit last around that triangular track against some quality opposition then come three and four-wide in the last lap but still romp home was something to behold.

Let alone the fact Leap To Fame took almost 2.5sec off the track record.

It was a champion performance from a pacer showing every sign he’s on his way to becoming a champion.

Dixon already declared him the best pacer he’s trained 18 months ago.

Leviathan owner Kevin Seymour says Leap To Fame is a “once in a lifetime horse and still on the way up.”

Just seeing him in action again, in front of his home crowd in one of
the state’s biggest races, will be a huge buzz on Saturday night.

It will be a shock if he doesn’t win.

And then the bar goes up again for the $400,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake at Albion Park and the inaugural $2.1mil TAB Eureka at Menangle on September 2.

Oh, and then there is a home state Inter Dominion series at Albion Park in December.

Blacks A Fake did incredible things for Queensland and Australian harness racing through the late 2000s and Leap To Fame is the best Queenslander since him.

Whether he can be another Blacks A Fake is an inevitable question and a daunting one.

But watching him over the next six months and beyond is a tantalising prospect.

Bring on Saturday night.