Aussie News - July 14

By Adam Hamilton

This time it was emphatic. 

Champion pacer Leap To Fame delivered a knockout blow to arch-rival and older sibling Swayzee in last night’s Mr Feelgood Open Pace (2138m) at Albion Park.

It was their third clash and Leap To Fame not only won, but ran right away from Swayzee despite sitting outside 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.

And trainer-driver Grant Dixon still looked to be nursing him on the line.

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.

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Millionaire mare Ladies In Red capped her preparation for another Group 1 raid with her 28th win from just 36 starts at Melton last night.

The six-year-old’s margin wasn’t great – just a half-head – but she clocked a slick 1min52.5sec mile rate for 1720m and edged close to $1.1 million in career earnings.

She’s booked on a flight to Queensland on Tuesday where she will chase the eighth Group 1 win of her career in next Saturday night’s $150,000 Group 1 Golden Girl (2138m) at Albion Park.

It will see a rematch with star former Kiwi mare Aardies Express, who upstaged Ladies In Red in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Mile on May 4 at Menangle.

Aardies Express returned to winning form when she led throughout to beat another former Kiwi mare Manhattan in last night’s Group 3 Fleur De Lil at Albion Park.

While both glamour mares won last night, neither were really dominant.

Ladies In Red’s owner-breeders Bill and Anne Anderson have refused to be drawn on whether the Queensland trip will be a farewell campaign for the rising seven-year-old.

In the same race as Ladies In Red at Melton, her stablemate The Lost Storm failed to beat a runner home at his first run back from a let-up, raising doubts about his quest for the $2.1mil TAB Eureka.

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Boom WA four-year-old Never Ending looks set for a huge campaign after a sparkling first-up win in last Friday night’s $50,000 Winter Cup at Gloucester Park.

Driven off the speed by his trainer Justin Prentice, Never Ending sustained a long three-wide run in a 55.6sec last half to upstage a strong free-for-all field.

It was his first run since striking trouble at a crucial stage when ninth in the $1.25mil Group 1 Nullarbor on April 19.

Prentice’s sights are set on the world’s richest harness race, the $2.1mil TAB Eureka at Menangle on September 7.

“I couldn’t have been happier with that, it was a terrific win,” Prentice said. “He’ll have another run or two here then we’ll get him across to Sydney nice and early, probably mid-August, to have a lead-up run at Menangle before the big one.”

Never Ending’s Eureka odds were slashed from $8 to $3.50 after the win.

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Husband-and-wife team Pete McMullen and Chantal Turpin scored their biggest win together when Wisper A Secret snatched victory over a brave Don Hugo in last night’s $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun (2138m) at Albion Park.

Turpin had three of the 12 runners in the feature and McMullen chose well with four-year-old Wisper A Secret flashing home late to rundown a Don Hugo, who did all the work outside the leader in a 1min54.2sec mile rate.

Grant Dixon’s former Kiwi Aroda ran a terrific third.

For the second week in a row, Chariots Of Fire winner Frankie Ferocious ran well below his best.

He was shuffled back to last, but finished 11th and was beaten almost 40m.

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Maybe this Queensland Oaks won’t be the walk in the park many expected for unbeaten Victorian filly Very Pretty?

Goulburn filly Millwood Bliss looked terrific winning the consolation of the Rising Sun, beating some quality four-year-olds, in brilliant time last night.

Trained and driven by Brad Hewitt, Millwood Bliss showed blazing gate speed to easily lead from the pole, copped plenty of midrace pressure and took a trail on class mare Eye Keep Smiling and beating her along the sprint lane.

Millwood Bliss won a half-head in a 1min53sec mile rate, just 1.3sec outside Leap To Fame’s track record.

Very Pretty, who won the NSW Oaks on May 4, has beaten Millwood Bliss in all three meetings, but had the better of barrier draws on each occasion.

The other emerging player is Chantal Turpin’s former Kiwi filly Aardie B Miki, who won last night’s South-East Oaks at Albion Park.

Having just her second Aussie run, Aardie B Miki blasted out from a wide draw to lead, dictated through a cost 60.8sec middle half, then dashed home in 55.2 and 27sec flat to beat a gallant Victorian filly Look Like Diamonds in a 1min54.9sec mile rate for 2138m.

They all meet in Saturday week’s $150,000 Group 1 Queensland Oaks.

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The untimely scratching of exciting young Kiwi trotter Bet N Win opened the door for classy Victorian mare Rockinwithattitude to post her fifth Group 1 win last night’s $150,000 Great Square at Albion Park.

Bet N Win was simply too good for Rockinwithattitude, who ran a brave second to the Kiwi last week.

But this time trainer-driver David Miles worked Rockinwithattitude around to take the lead after 400m and found plenty to beat defending champion London To A Brick, who sat parked, by a half-neck in a 1min57.1sec mile rate for 2138m.

It turned the tables on last year when Rockinwithattitude ran third to London To A Brick in the Great Square when both were just three-year-olds.

Bet N Win’s co-trainer Stacey White said she hoped the three-year-old would recover quickly enough to tackle Saturday week’s $100,000 Group 1 Queensland Trotters’ Cup at Albion Park.

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This looks a stellar juvenile crop in Australia.

It was underlined last Friday when two leading contenders for Saturday week’s inaugural $500,000 Protostar smashed the clock in an Albion Park trial.

Grant Dixon’s Fate Awaits, a winner of three of his four starts, worked to the front mid-trial and beat Brad Hewitt’s boom filly, Bittersweet, by 3.4m in a scorching 1min51.4sec mile rate for 1660m.

The splits were 27.4, 27.6, 29.6 and 27sec flat.

They could clash in next Saturday’s Paleface Adios ahead of the Protostar where Emma Stewart’s unbeaten youngster The Highlight Reel will be waiting for them.

The Highlight Reel’s stablemate, Cigano, who also has a Protostar slot, strolled home at his first run back from a break at Melton last Friday night.