Leap To Fame connections reflect on Hall of Fame honours

By Andrew Smith

There was never any doubt over whether Leap To Fame would one day be inducted into the Queensland Harness Racing Hall of Fame.

But to achieve the feat while still racing and at the top of your game is almost unprecedented.

The champion pacer received the honour at the 2024 Queensland Harness Awards earlier this month, the same night he was crowned the Harness Horse of the Year for a third straight season.

Leap To Fame's trainer-driver Grant Dixon was also inducted on the evening, celebrating his own extraordinary career in the harness racing caper which has spanned almost four decades.

Fittingly, it was Dixon’s sons Thomas and Jai who were given the honour of announcing Leap To Fame and their father’s entires into the prestigious club on stage in the Victoria Park Ballroom.

The reinsman was his typically modest self when asked about the confirmation of “Larry” as one of the state’s all-time greats.

“It probably just highlights how much he’s managed to achieve so far and just another feather in his cap really,” Dixon said.

“He deserved so many of the awards that he received and it’s just been such a thrill to be associated with him.

“We obviously got towards the end  of 2024 when he got crook and we had to shut him down then, but it was just amazing what he managed to achieve throughout the year.”

An analysis of Leap To Fame’s CV shows it is not difficult to understand why the Hall of Fame induction came so soon.

The superstar was named the HRA Australian Harness Horse of the Year for a second straight year this week.

He has now won 48 of his 60 career starts, which includes 11 Group 1 victories.

The six-year-old is currently sitting equal second on the table of all-time Australian Group 1 wins by a pacer alongside the legendary Blacks A Fake, one victory off the top of the ladder.

His Group 1 honour roll includes the Inter Dominion Pacing Championship, Blacks A Fake, Sunshine Sprint, Miracle Mile, A.G. Hunter Cup, Rising Sun, and the Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria Derbies.

He also became only the second horse to hold harness racing’s Triple Crown (the Hunter Cup, Inter Dominion and the Miracle Mile) alongside the mighty Preux Chevalier 39 years ago.

Proud owners Kevin and Kay Seymour were on hand for the Hall of Fame induction, as well as Leap To Fame’s other awards including the Queensland Aged Pacer of the Year and Albion Park Harness Racing Club Horse of the Year.

The businessman, long-time owner and breeder has almost run out of superlatives to describe their champion.

The 84-year-old admits the couple often have sleepless nights when reflecting on the achievements of the superstar.

“I don’t think I can describe in words what he actually represents to us,” Seymour said.

“At our age in our life, we’re into our 80s, and to have a horse like him makes us feel young again and gives us something to look forward to all the time – he has changed Kay and mine’s life.

“We go home at night and replay the race, we replay it again, we go to bed, we talk about it, and we have trouble sleeping the nights that he wins.

“You’ve got to understand that I’ve been in the game now for 55 years, and it’s taken me until now to get a champion horse so you can imagine the thrill and excitement we get.

“It’s all about the ride that we’re enjoying and we’re no different to any other harness racing person - we’re enthusiasts, we’re dreamers and what a sweet dream it is to have a horse like him.”

Racing Queensland CEO Jason Scott paid tribute to Leap To Fame’s extraordinary achievements, citing the rareness of an active racehorse being welcomed into the Hall of Fame.

The pacer joins Blacks A Fake, Be Good Johnny and Destreos as some of the standardbreds who have achieved a similar feat.

“We don’t have many inductees at all of drivers, trainers or horses so for us to induct a horse halfway through its career is not unprecedented, but it’s certainly unusual and in this case it’s well and truly justified,” Scott said.

“It’s another great initiative by the Hall of Fame committee - let’s celebrate our champions while they’re alive, let’s not wait until they’re dead.

“We’ve got a champion horse and we need to enjoy and celebrate Leap To Fame while he’s racing through his career and we have the opportunity.

“It’s hard to see how the next two years can be better than the last two for him but we’ve got two Inter Dominions so let’s hope so.”

While having ticked off everything there is to achieve in Australian harness racing, the question has to be asked about whether Leap To Fame has even peaked in his career yet.

Seymour is adamant the best is still yet to come for the standardbred, with a target of more Group 1 success at next month’s Miracle Mile in Menangle.

There is also the return of the Inter Dominion at Albion Park later this year, the site of Leap To Fame’s stirring victory in the 2023 edition.

Seymour almost did not make it to The Creek to see that win after he was hospitalised following a heart attack in the days leading up to the Inter Dominion Final.

The leviathan owner will leave it up to his trusted trainer-driver to figure out how to take the standardbred to another level.

“Any horse that gets inducted into the Hall of Fame is special, but I think this horse has got a long racing career ahead of him and to be at this early age in his career is something really look forward to,” Seymour said.

“Grant plays his cards very close to his chest as you know, but I think Grant thinks he’s got another couple of years left in him to race.

“The horse is almost human - Grant can talk to him in a race and he’ll do exactly what Grant asks him to do, the way he responds to his commands and things like that is quite amazing.”

Another milestone in the sights of the Seymours is the great Blacks A Fake’s Australasian prize money record of $4,575,438.

Leap To Fame is currently sitting on just over $3.4 million and well on his way to eclipsing that top mark.

“I think one of the things that will determine how long we race him before we put him out to stud will be the amount of money he wins over the next couple of years,” Seymour said.

“It would be lovely to have a horse going to stud that’s won a record amount of prize money in Australia.”

Dixon’s own Hall of Fame induction comes after a stellar 37-year career in both the driving and training ranks.

Debuting as a reinsman in the 1988/89 season and then as a trainer in 1999/2000, the veteran horseman has claimed 30 Group 1 training victories, as well as 33 Group 1 wins in the sulky.

He was also this week named the HRA Australian Trainer of the Year.

While Leap To Fame has significantly helped add to that tally, it was another three-time Queensland Harness Horse of the Year Colt Thirty One that also proved fruitful for the Dixon family.

True to his humble fashion, the 52-year-old was keen to thank others that had been part of his career, notably wife Trista.

“I probably feel a bit too young to be in the Hall of Fame to tell you the truth but it’s a big thrill,” Dixon said.

“Obviously it’s not just me – my name’s down there but to be fair my mother and father particularly for so many years.

"It was all his hard work that gave me such a great starting point.

“Then the last 12 years with Trista it’s been amazing the run we’ve managed to do and a lot of that’s down to how hard Trista works and how much she cares for the horses.

“It’s my name there but it’s just as much Trista’s effort as it is mine.”

Awards host and the voice of harness racing in Queensland, Chris Barsby, was quick to point out at the ceremony that Dixon is fast approaching the 10,000-win milestone.

The veteran has 5,315 victories to his name as a driver along with 3,477 as a trainer, for a combined 8,792 victories.

Dixon said with a laugh that the magical mark had not even crossed his mind.

“Obviously they’re combining the two together, the training and the driving but I haven’t thought about that - just have to keep chipping away I guess.”

Click here to see the full list of winners from the 2024 Queensland Harness Awards.