In their previous outings Kingman had a 3-0 lead but at Ballarat he had to come from the second row while Leap To Fame were on the outside of the front row.
While Mach Dan held the early lead, Grant Dixon broke down and was able to find the lead. Kingman, on the other hand, ended up four back on the fence with Bulletproof Boy on his outside.
With a lap and a half to go, Luke McCarthy came off the fence on Kingman to carefully move up to Leap To Fame. But he had a tendency to race incurably in the corners and this did not help his case.
LEAP TO FAME JAN 24 REPEAT
Dixon unleashed Leap To Fame on the final lap, leaving his rivals, including Kingman, in stitches in a scintillating third quarter of 26.4 seconds. Kingman battled on down the home straight, but Leap To Fame cruised to the finish just under 40 feet from stablemates Dee Roe and Forty Love, just ahead of Kingman.
Leap To Fame ran the 2200 meters in 1.54.4 and set a new track record by beating Smolda’s eight-year record of 1.54.8.
There are two more legs of the Country Cups bonus to be held in Cranbourne and Kilmore in the coming weeks before the $250,000 AG Hunter Cup on February 14. Leap To Fame, who loves racing, could well compete in the Cranbourne Cup, which he has won for the past two years.
Grant Dixon reflected on Leap To Fame’s winning return.
We had the draw at Kingman tonight. And that’s obviously the difference, but it’s nice for Larry to get the win. He felt good, we didn’t know where to go tonight. We were so happy with him. The most important thing was to keep the jump on Kingman. I think whoever gets the better trip is the winner at this point.
We were happy to be ahead of him. We decided to come down early (for the bonus) to give it a try so the dream is still alive. It will be super hard to do. But if you don’t do it, you’ll never know.
By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink
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