Leap To Fame and co fly Queensland flag chasing NZ riches
By Adam Hamilton
Queensland's three biggest harness racing stars headline a record Australian raid on one of New Zealand’s biggest meetings at Cambridge on Friday night.
Leap To Fame, his heir apparent The Janitor and brilliant trotter Gus will chase almost $NZ1.6 million in prize money across the two feature races.
Leap To Fame will defend his crown in the $NZ1 million Race by Sport Nation where his rivals will include The Janitor and trip of NSW stars Kingman, Swayzee and Captains Knock.
Gus will be joined by star Victorian stablemates Keayang Zahara and Jilliby Ballerini in the $NZ530,000 TAB Trot.
The eight-horse Aussie raid eclipses the seven horses who dominated last year’s “Night of Champions” meeting at Cambridge.
The Janitor and Gus laid the foundations for another Aussie romp when they beat some of NZ’s best in their respective lead-up races at Cambridge last Thursday.
The Janitor did all the work for narrow but outstanding win, while Gus overcame a nasty check and being pushed five and six wide rounding the home bend to rocket home the trotting feature.
But their co-trainer and driver Pete McMullen knows how much harder it will be with the other Aussies stars at Cambridge this week.
“I’ve been trying to beat Leap To Fame with a few different horses for a while now and haven’t been able to,” he said. “He’s the benchmark and will be again this week.
“The Janitor was terrific last week and he’s starting to put it all together, hopefully this will be his year.”
The Janitor showed he’s not far off Leap To Fame when he rocketed home for a close second in the Miracle Mile when they last met at Menangle on March 14.
At their previous clash, he was a close-up third to Don Hugo, with Leap To Fame third, in the Group 1 Blacks A Fake last December.
Leap To Fame is $2.30 favourite despite yet another tough feature race draw (gate seven) with The Janitor $3 second favourite. Swayzee, who looks the likely leader, is next at $4.20.
As breathtaking as Gus was last week, it’s a huge ask to overcome a wide draw (gate eight) against Keayang Zahara (two), who has won 27 of her 28 starts.
“We put him back in the draw and hoped to draw maybe five or six to try and settle a bit closer to ‘Zahara’, who will probably find the lead, but we still drew the outside,” McMullen said.
“We’ve got to hope she has to do some early work to find the lead or it’ll be too hard to try and come from the back and make a race of it with her.”
Gus, who is unbeaten in three NZ runs across two different trips, has clashed with Keayang Zahara just once when fourth to her in the Group 1 Hammerhead Mile at Menangle on March 14.
Australians have filled the trifecta in both runnings of the TAB Trot so far (Just Believe won in 2024 and Arcee Phoenix last year) and Keayang Zahara, her star stablemate Jilliby Ballerini and Gus are the first three in betting this time.
- Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
- Image Credit: Race Images NZ
