By Danny Matthews
Leap To Fame’s Group 1 Ladbrokes Blacks A Fake preparation continued in victorious style last night.
The Leap To Fame juggernaut rolled on at Albion Park as harness racing’s latest sensation scored an easy win in the Group 1 Garrards Sunshine Sprint.
Starting from gate four, any punter willing to take the shorts odds of $1.12 had few concerns early on as the now 10-time Group 1 winner strode to a 2.5-metre victory in the $200,000 feature over the 1660-metres – a distance where rivals had their best chance to find a chink of vulnerability in the five-year-old at this track.
Rattling home in a last half-mile of 53.8 seconds, trainer and driver Grant Dixon now sets the Queensland star’s sights on a second victory in the Blacks A Fake this Saturday night as the $1.50 favourite.
“I thought after getting through the first quarter (of the mile) like he did, he would be able to come home well in the next three,” Dixon said.
“Next week, we just don’t want barriers one or eight.”
The question of whether Leap To Fame has reached champion status is still asked in some quarters but the answer has little doubt for the sport’s leviathan owner, Kevin Seymour.
“I don’t know what you’ve got to do to be called a champion, but in our eyes, he is one,” Seymour said.
Also on the card, the TAB Eureka picture took further shape as Leap To Fame’s stablemate Free Thinker earned a spot in the world’s richest harness event by winning the Group 2 The Hayden (2183m), while Eye Keep Smiling ($16) caused an upset in the Group 1 The Golden Girl (1660m) with trainer and driver Luke McCarthy also keeping her focus on the $2.1 million race at Menangle in September.