Leap To Fame powers to second Miracle Mile win

By Adam Hamilton 

Look out New Zealand, Larry is on his way back.

Champion pacer Leap To Fame underlined why he is as great as any Australasian pacer of all time with a powerhouse second win in the $1m Miracle Mile at Menangle last night.

It was his third go at the race after winning in 2024 and running a brave and close second to Don Hugo last year.

Now he’s headed to Cambridge next month to defend the $1m The Race crown he won with one of the greatest performances of his career last year.

He’s even better now than then.

And he’s certainly racing better than when second to Kingman in last November’s NZ Cup.

Despite sitting outside his arch-rival and older half-brother Swayzee, Leap To Fame ran past him and staved off a booming challenge from rising star The Janitor to win by a half-neck in a 1min49sec mile. Defending champion Don Hugo was third.

“You run out of things to say about him,” owner Kevin Seymour said. “They say he’s not a miler and look what he’s done here … again.

“He’s a champion in every sense of the word and he’s been doing it for four years now.”

Co-trainer Trista Dixon said Leap To Fame would return to their Tambourine stables outside Brisbane now to freshen-up before another road trip back to Sydney to get a flight to Auckland.

“At this stage the flight will be Easter Saturday or Sunday,” she said. “We’re keen to pretty much copy what we did with him last year.”

Although thrilled with the win, Dixon said it was as much a relief as anything.

“We’re trying to enjoy the moments because they’re not going to last forever,” she said.

“There’s so much pressure and expectation every time he races. You’re just relieved when he wins.”

The Janitor’s driver Pete McMullen thought he was going to beat Leap To Fame halfway down the straight.

“Yep, when he really let down, I thought I had him, but he just dug in again and wouldn’t let us pass him,” he said. “Our guy was still a huge run after being shoved wide on the home bend. We’d have finished closer for sure.”

The Janitor will head to Cambridge, too.

“He and Gus will go across a bit earlier and could run at Cambridge the week before the big races,” trainer Chantal Turpin said.

But it was Leap To Fame’s night and his 15th Group 1 win, moving him to within one of the Australasian record of 16 shared by Lazarus and Westburn Grant.

Leap To Fame’s prize money soared to $5,883,234.

Incredibly, from 85 starts he has won 66 times and only finished worse than second on five occasions. They were three thirds and two fourths.

The hard luck story of the Miracle Mile was the star former Kiwi mare Captains Mistress who was badly held-up three back on the pegs.

“I’m not saying she’d have beaten the winner, but she’d have been right in the finish with any luck at all,” driver Jye Coney said.

Somehow Keayang Zahara seems to be getting better.

The brilliance and sheer arrogance of last night’s win in the $100,000 Group 1 Hammerhead Mile at Menangle was evidence of that.

More records tumbled.

The win was her 15th at Group 1 level, which made her equal with the former great Kiwi gelding Lyell Creek for the most Group 1 wins by an Australasian trotter.

And Keayang Zahara’s scorching 1min51.5sec mile last night – seemingly with plenty in the tank – equalled Maori Time’s 2018 Australasian mile record by a trotter.

It was her 27th win from just 28 starts.

Now Team Lee set their sights on taking her back to NZ for the $530,000 Trot Slot at Cambridge on April 10.

Her brilliant stablemate Jilliby Ballerini chased Keayang Zahara home for second again last night.

They are both Cambridge-bound.

“We’d like to give them another run before they go and the Terang (Trotters’) Cup looks the only real option,” co-trainer Paddy Lee said.

It would mean they both switch to standing start racing and come off 30m handicaps.

“We’ll either go there or look to get them and maybe a couple of others of ours together for a private workout between races that night.” Lee said.

“We can’t wait to get back to NZ. We took her 18 months ago and we were given the greatest reception.”

Queensland star Gus, who won the big NZ Cup Week Group 1 trotting double, was no match for Keayang Zahara last night.

But there was still plenty to like about his run after making a blistering move around the field from last at the 800m.

“It’s just so hard with her up front and giving away that sort of start, but he ran a terrific race,” driver Pete McMullen said.