All-conquering Aussie heading to IRT New Zealand Cup

It now seems a done deal that Australian champion Leap To Fame will be heading to the IRT New Zealand Cup at Addington in November.

Speculation has been rife for months that the superstar pacer would be a starter in this country's biggest race on Tuesday, November 12.

Following his dynamic win in last night’s Mr Feelgood Open Pace (2138m) at Albion Park in Brisbane, the champ's connections have confirmed that he is in fact heading across the Tasman.

"It's such a coup to have Leap To Fame coming our way," says HRNZ's Chief Executive Officer Brad Steele, "his owner Kevin Seymour is committed to giving the Cup a go."

"He's the boom pacer in Australasia at the moment and will only add to the hype of the IRT New Zealand Cup."

In the TAB's Futures market Leap To Fame is a $2 favourite ahead of Don't Stop Dreaming ($4), Merlin ($6), Millwood Nike ($6) and Swayzee ($8).

Leap To Fame will try and emulate his arch rival and older sibling Swayzee, who won last year's New Zealand Cup for trainer Jason Grimson and driver Cam Hart.

Last night Leap To Fame and trainer-driver Grant Dixon not only beat Swayzee but ran right away from him to win by almost nine metres.

Leap To Fame also smashed the track record. His 1min51sec flat mile rate took 0.7sec off his own 2138m Albion Park record.

It was Leap To Fame’s 39th win from just 50 starts and edged him closer to $3 million in earnings.

Bookies slashed his odds to $1.35 for next Saturday’s $200,000 Group 1 Sunshine Sprint and $1.40 for the $400,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake a week later.

The Swayzee team will still remain hopeful given he had to burn a supersonic lead time to hold the front from the pole last night, but Leap To Fame does look to have gone to another level since their first two meetings.

Swayzee will bypass the Sunshine Sprint so they won’t meet again until the Blacks A Fake.