The Young Guns Are Leaping At Fame

Dont Stop Dreaming. Photo by Club Menangle.

THE young guns are lining up for a crack at Leap To Fame's crown.
And they'll get their shot in Saturday week's $1mil Miracle Mile at Menangle. 

Leap To Fame has dominated the past six months, headed by powerhouse wins in the Inter Dominion pacing final and the Hunter Cup, but the sprint distance of the Miracle Mile and stellar crop of four-year-olds make the Miracle Mile by far his biggest test yet.

Trainer-driver Grant Dixon whisked Leap To Fame back home to Queensland after winning last Friday night's $100,000 Group 2 Newcastle Mile, which guaranteed his spot in the Miracle Mile.

In contrast, his seven rivals are yet to be finalised, and all will have to race to try to qualify across three feature races at Menangle on Saturday night.

The headline race will be one of the strongest four-year-old races in recent history, the $250,000 Group 1 Chariots Of Fire, headlined by Kiwi stars Don't Stop Dreaming and Its Merlin, along with Jason Grimson's latest star Frankie Ferocious and brilliant Bathurst pacer Better Be The Best.

Dixon is sure getting the longer break between races is a big advantage.

"That's why we targeted Newcastle, to have the longer break between races," he said. 

"Otherwise, we'd have had to go a 1min48sec mile this week and then even quicker in the Miracle Mile a week later."

"We tossed up leaving him at Menangle after Newcastle, but it's only an eight-hour road trip, and he handled it so well going down, we decided to take him straight home again. There's nothing better than training them from home."

"We'll head down as late as we can before the (Miracle) Mile, knowing he'll have to be in the retention barn at some stage on Thursday week."

Back to the four-year-olds, we already have a form line to prove they are elite.

Don't Stop Dreaming stepped into the big league for the first time in the $500,000 Group 1 Hunter Cup on February 3 and turned plenty of heads coming from well off the speed to storm home – and smash the clock – for a close second to Leap To Fame.

Mark Purdon's new star hasn't been out of second gear, winning both runs since, including beating older rivals at Menangle last night.

"He's thriving over here," Purdon said. "It was good to get that run into him last night rather than have three weeks between runs. He did it comfortably."

Don't Stop Dreaming blasted home in a 25.7sec final 400m, with Purdon barely flinching a muscle.

Interestingly, Purdon has won two Miracle Miles with four-year-olds, such as Don't Stop Dreaming. They were Spankem (2019) and Have Faith In Me (2016).

His older brother Barry, who co-trains Its Merlin, boasts five Miracle Mile wins, including going back-to-back with Chokin (1993 &' 94) and Holmes DG (1999 & 2000).

The latest Miracle Mile markets have Leap To Fame remarkably short at $1.90 from Don't Stop Dreaming and Frankie Ferocious at $6. Its Merlin is $11.

Last year's winner, Catch A Wave, won't be back to defend his crown after sustaining an injury in the Geelong Rocket last Friday night.

"We thought it was really serious, maybe even a fracture, straight after the race, but they went right over him, and all they found was a corn," trainer Andy Gath said. 

"They've cut it out, and he will be right to go again in a couple of weeks."

In other news, globetrotting hero Just Believe further stamped himself as one of the great trotters of the modern era with a barnstorming win in last night's Group 1 Grand Prix at Melton.

It was his ninth win from 10 starts since returning from a terrific three-race Swedish raid in the middle of last year.

Another international raid awaits, with his next major target being the inaugural $NZ575,000 TAB Trot slot race at Cambridge in New Zealand on April 12.

·      Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.