Leap To Fame races to Inter Dominion glory
In front of a packed and one-eyed local crowd, Leap To Fame romped away for his 22nd successive win at his home track and his 56th win from just 69 lifetime starts.
The $540,000 first prize also made him the all-time richest pacer in this part of the world with $4,630,884 – surpassing another great Queenslander, Blacks A Fake's $4,575,438 stakes tally.
McCarthy, who finished fourth on defending Inter Dominion champion Don Hugo, said: 'He's amazing. He's not just the greatest stayer we've seen, he's the best horse full stop.'
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Leap To Fame has now contested seven Inter Dominion races, five heats and two finals, and won them all.
He started the shortest priced favourite ($1.22) since the Inter Dominion began in 1936 and, after being crossed at the start, worked around to take the lead and was never in danger.
'This time it's more of a relief, the expectation was just so huge,' trainer-driver Grant Dixon said.
'We had a little scare during the week. He bucked and knocked his leg, which he's never done, but thankfully it wasn't anything serious.'
Leap To Fame became just the eighth pacer to win multiple Inter Dominion finals and owners Kevin and Kay Seymour hinted strongly at chasing a third crown, which only three other pacers have done (Blacks A Fake, Im Themightyquinn and Our Sir Vancelot).
'The big studs have been coming hard at us to retire him, but we'll hold off for at least another year,' Kevin Seymour said.
'We've been in the game over 50 years and this is the horse we've dreamt of getting … Kay won't let me retire him, at least not for a while yet.
'It's important everyone understands the huge role Grant and Trista Dixon have played in making this horse.'
In typical Seymour fashion, he said the winning trophy would go to Albion Park track photographer, Dan Costello, who is facing a huge battle with cancer.
'Dan's one of nature's gentlemen and is going through a really hard time. I'd love him to have the trophy and Kay and I will donate $100,000 of the prize money towards Dan's medical bills,' he said.
Leap To Fame will have a break before aiming at another first, victory in NZ's most iconic race of any code, the NZ Cup at Addington in Christchurch in November.
Earlier, star Victorian trotter Arcee Phoenix smashed through the $1 million prize money barrier with an emotion-charged $500,000 Inter Dominion trotting final win.
Arcee Phoenix wins the Inter Dominion Trotting Grand Final Picture: Dan Costello
Trainer-driver Chris Svanosio praised his late father-in-law, Dr Alistair McLean, for his guidance with Arcee Phoenix as a talented but raw youngster.
'Without him, this horse may well not have raced at all and now he's here as a six-year-old winning the Inter Dominion,' Svanosio said.
'There's lots of feelings at the moments, emotional, excitement and just relief after such a big build-up … we did it.'
Arcee Phoenix became just the fifth Aussie-trained trotter to bank over a million with first prize taking him to $1,016,280.
· Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
PHOTOS: Dan Costello
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SBS Australia
11 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
Are cost-of-living pressures and streaming platform algorithms killing Australian music?
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Algorithms placing pressure on industry At the same time, streaming platforms such as Spotify are continuing to grow, with over nine million users in Australia. Date from market research firm Roy Morgan found Spotify had doubled its Australian user base between 2017 and 2020. Since 2017, the platform has moved towards algorithmically creating personalised music recommendations, informed by a user's listening history and preferences. Koh says this means that people are more likely to value platforms like these instead of community radio, which was traditionally a hub for music discoverability. "People lead such busy lives, so the amount of time that people can devote to going on their own musical journey and discovering new artists is getting more and more limited," he said. Koh says this convenience is creating a "giant homogenous culture". "One thing that social media and algorithms can't replace is the experience and joy of seeing a band. 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ABC News
11 minutes ago
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NRL live: Warriors vs Titans, Panthers vs Tigers, Rabbitohs vs Sharks
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News.com.au
18 minutes ago
- News.com.au
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