Punters flocked to support Leap To Fame in favoritism before Don Hugo.
The tactics at the start dictated what the race would look like. As expected, McCarthy found the early lead with Don Hugo and Betterthancash took up a trail behind the leader.
DON HUGO DECEMBER 6 REPETITION
Once the field settled, Grant Dixon took off for Leap To Fame, but Pete McMullen decided to go ahead of him and they advanced to Don Hugo. The three were locked together before McCarthy wisely chose to follow a trail behind The Janitor, meaning Leap To Fame was caught outside the leader.
It was clear that these three would battle it out to the finish far from home and the crowd was kept guessing as Leap To Fame slowly started to gather at The Janitor, which still gave plenty of lead. Don Hugo was desperate for an inside and he came halfway down the straight. Just as Leap To Fame got wide of The Janitor, Don Hugo sprinted through and right on the line he beat Leap To Fame by a short half head with The Janitor a head away.
The mileage of 1.52.8 equaled Leap To Fame’s track record from July 2024 when he won the Blacks A Fake.
Owner Tony Licastro was clearly emotional after the event.
I was confident we had him in his best condition. They were huge runs from all three horses. But I thought he would come second or third.
In contrast, Luke McCarthy stated
I thought he was right there on the line. The Miracle Mile will be his longer term goal, but we have to sit down and figure out where he will race next.
McCarthy has had a great year with his star stable Don Hugo and more recently Kingman and will be eyeing the Grand Circuit next year.
Don Hugo came to Brisbane at the last minute when his original goal of the New South Wales Carnival of Cups was thwarted three weeks ago when he was narrowly defeated by Captains Knock in Wagga.
Despite his loss, Leap To Fame continues to be crowned Grand Circuit Champion for the past three years. While nothing can be taken away from Don Hugo, Leap To Fame was great in the defeat that had to work so hard. In retrospect, his downfall may have been the result of having to race three wide for just a little longer than Grant Dixon would have liked, and he was only narrowly defeated.
Pete McMullen was very pleased with the efforts of The Janitor, who has now proven beyond doubt that he is a major player and will likely feature in the upcoming feature races. For now, McMullen has indicated that The Janitor will now head to the paddock, but at this stage there is no decision on what his future program could be next year.
By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink
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