Latest news with #TeamDixon
Herald Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- Herald Sun
Dixon warms up for Inter Dominion with Albion Park domination
Premier trainer Grant Dixon has more string to his bow than just champion pacer Leap To Fame heading into a huge hometown Inter Dominion Carnival. Despite Leap To Fame having a night off, Dixon and wife, Trista, flexed their muscle with a feature treble at Albion Park last night. Leap To Fame, who is already two-from-two this campaign, will be back to cap his Inter Dominion preparation at Albion Park next Saturday night. Team Dixon snared the quinella in last night's feature, the Flashing Red Discretionary, when Aroda led throughout with Trista aboard to bet Charge Ahead. Aroda's next target will be a title defence in the $106,070 Group 2 Redcliffe Cup on June 28 before the Inter Dominion starts at Albion Park a week later. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Earlier, Dixon's exciting three-year-old Path To Greatness landed a huge plunge ($5.50 into $1.70) to lead throughout and easily win the Queensland Sun. The win secured the gelding a start in the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun at Albion Park on July 5. Path To Greatness, who boasts seven wins from just 13 starts, beat stablemate Charge Ahead to give Team Dixon another quinella. The most exciting win of the night came from Team Dixon's recent stable addition, Captains Mistress. The glamour Kiwi filly toyed with older rivals to win by 9.1m in a slick 1min53.1sec mile rate for 1660m. Her major target is the Group 1 Queensland Oaks. The one minor disappointment of the night for the stable came when prepost Queensland Derby favourite Fate Awaits had to be content with third place behind exciting Kiwi raider, Rubira, in race nine. Rubira gave Kiwi Hall of Fame trainer Mark Purdon, who trains in partnership with son Nathan, part of a perfect start to their Queensland raid. Earlier, their star trotter Oscar Bonavena toyed with his rivals to win and stamp himself as a major player for the Inter Dominion trotting series. Rubira has the South-East and Redcliffe Derbys before the Group 1 Rising Sun on July 5 and the Group 1 Queensland Derby on July 19. 'It was great to get wins with them both because they needed the runs and will take improvement from them,' Nathan Purdon said. Champion NSW trainer Luke McCarthy will launch his Queensland raid from next week after stars Don Hugo and Hesitate won impressively at Menangle last night. Miracle Mile and Inter Dominion winner Don Hugo has easily won both starts this campaign and looms as the only serious danger to Leap To Fame in the Inter Dominion pacing series. Hesitate is likely to head to the Queensland Derby via the Rising Sun. 'I'll have a nice team in Brisbane for a month or so,' McCarthy said. The Queensland flavour extended to Melton last night where trainer-driver Chris Svanosio confirmed and impressive win by his US-bred trotting mare Aldebaran Acrux had booked her a trip to the Inter Dominion. She will accompany star stablemate Arcee Phoenix, who returns from a break at Melton next Saturday night. • Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp. Originally published as Grant Dixon warms up for 2025 Inter Dominion with Albion Park domination
News.com.au
a day ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Grant Dixon warms up for 2025 Inter Dominion with Albion Park domination
Premier trainer Grant Dixon has more string to his bow than just champion pacer Leap To Fame heading into a huge hometown Inter Dominion Carnival. Despite Leap To Fame having a night off, Dixon and wife, Trista, flexed their muscle with a feature treble at Albion Park last night. Leap To Fame, who is already two-from-two this campaign, will be back to cap his Inter Dominion preparation at Albion Park next Saturday night. Team Dixon snared the quinella in last night's feature, the Flashing Red Discretionary, when Aroda led throughout with Trista aboard to bet Charge Ahead. Aroda's next target will be a title defence in the $106,070 Group 2 Redcliffe Cup on June 28 before the Inter Dominion starts at Albion Park a week later. Earlier, Dixon's exciting three-year-old Path To Greatness landed a huge plunge ($5.50 into $1.70) to lead throughout and easily win the Queensland Sun. The win secured the gelding a start in the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun at Albion Park on July 5. Path To Greatness, who boasts seven wins from just 13 starts, beat stablemate Charge Ahead to give Team Dixon another quinella. The most exciting win of the night came from Team Dixon's recent stable addition, Captains Mistress. The glamour Kiwi filly toyed with older rivals to win by 9.1m in a slick 1min53.1sec mile rate for 1660m. Her major target is the Group 1 Queensland Oaks. Here's one for the Southerners 🥇 Captains Mistress grinds down a gallant Stella Rouge to win the Dunstan G1 Sires Stakes 2YO Pacing Fillies Championship Final for Trainer/Driver Nathan Williamson #NZCupWeek @AddingtonNZ | @HarnessRacingNZ | @WoodlandsStudNZ — Trackside NZ (@TracksideNZ) November 15, 2024 The one minor disappointment of the night for the stable came when prepost Queensland Derby favourite Fate Awaits had to be content with third place behind exciting Kiwi raider, Rubira, in race nine. Rubira gave Kiwi Hall of Fame trainer Mark Purdon, who trains in partnership with son Nathan, part of a perfect start to their Queensland raid. Earlier, their star trotter Oscar Bonavena toyed with his rivals to win and stamp himself as a major player for the Inter Dominion trotting series. Rubira has the South-East and Redcliffe Derbys before the Group 1 Rising Sun on July 5 and the Group 1 Queensland Derby on July 19. 'It was great to get wins with them both because they needed the runs and will take improvement from them,' Nathan Purdon said. Champion NSW trainer Luke McCarthy will launch his Queensland raid from next week after stars Don Hugo and Hesitate won impressively at Menangle last night. Don Hugo proves too strong in the Club Menangle Golden Mile (Listed Classic) for Trainer Driver @lukeamccarthy. #ClubMenangle — Club Menangle (@ClubMenangle) June 14, 2025 Miracle Mile and Inter Dominion winner Don Hugo has easily won both starts this campaign and looms as the only serious danger to Leap To Fame in the Inter Dominion pacing series. Hesitate is likely to head to the Queensland Derby via the Rising Sun. 'I'll have a nice team in Brisbane for a month or so,' McCarthy said. The Queensland flavour extended to Melton last night where trainer-driver Chris Svanosio confirmed and impressive win by his US-bred trotting mare Aldebaran Acrux had booked her a trip to the Inter Dominion. She will accompany star stablemate Arcee Phoenix, who returns from a break at Melton next Saturday night.
Courier-Mail
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Courier-Mail
Leap To Fame closes in on Australasian prizemoney record
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. The champ is back. Leap To Fame launches a campaign which could see him become Australasia's all-time richest pacer when he steps out at Albion Park on Saturday night. It will be one at least two lead-up runs before the Ladbrokes Inter Dominion starts at Albion Park on July 5. Leap To Fame, who boasts 50 wins and over $4 million in prize money, hasn't started since one of the best wins in his career in the $NZ1 million Race by betcha at Cambridge on April 4. The six-year-old worked so well last Saturday, co-trainers Grant and Trista Dixon opted to take him straight back to the races without a trial. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'Gee he worked well,' Grant Dixon said. 'The trials up here are only over a mile and you end up running terrific time in them, so we felt we might as well just take him straight to the races. 'We're really happy with him. By racing this week, it also gives us a bit of time in case another race or two don't stand-up between now and the Inter Dominion.' Dixon was thrilled with how well Leap To Fame handled his first trip to NZ for the big Cambridge win. 'He thrived and came home in great order. It didn't take much at all out of him and he obviously raced so well over there,' he said. 'He's carrying a bit of weight we'll need to get off him before the Inter Dominion, but we've got time on our side.' Leap To Fame has won his past 16 starts at Albion Park with the last defeat way back on November 4, 2023. He started from an awkward inside draw that night and never saw daylight before finishing fourth. Dixon pointed to a similarly awkward draw as the biggest challenge this week. 'You wouldn't believe he's drawn inside the back row again. I've never seen a horse get these awkward draws more than him,' he said. 'It makes it tricky. There's a few nice horses in this race and you can't afford to snag back at the start or you'll be giving away a huge start when they're running super times up front. We're going to need some luck.' Leap To Fame, who won the 2023 Inter Dominion and missed last year's series with a health issue, is a $1.50 prepost favourite for this year's $1 million final on July 19. Dixon will also have recent stable addition Captain Hammerhead, who beat the great stayer Swayzee in the Albury Cup earlier this year, step-out at Albion Park on Saturday night. 'His trial for us was OK, but we're still getting to know him,' he said. 'We'll know a lot more after this race and we've gone to the standing-start race because we're looking at races like the Flashing Red and Redcliffe Cup with him,' he said. Captain Hammerhead won 14 races and more than $350,000 for Victorian trainer David Moran before switching to Team Dixon a few weeks back. Team Dixon also has two of the major players – Fire And Passion (gate two) and Fight For Glory (11) – in Saturday night's $50,000 Group 2 Qbred 2YO final, which shapes a key pointer to the $500,000 Protostar. 'They're both nice horses – given the draws Fire And Passion is our best hope, but Barsby has the pole and will be hard to beat,' Grant said. • Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp. Originally published as Leap To Fame has prizemoney record in his sights as he launches new campaign at Albion Park
