Leaping back to racing and into something new

Leap to Fame with Grant & Trista. Photo by Stuart McCormick.

AUSTRALIA'S champion pacer Leap To Fame is just weeks away from a racetrack return and he's about to try something new.

Trainer-driver Grant Dixon said the five-year-old thrived during a three-week break and would trial "in about two weeks."

"I'm really happy with him. He seems to have freshened up really well. Three weeks out was a good break," Dixon said.

"He's had a good, slow build-up, and he's just about ready to trial."

Leap To Fame is set to resume in the standing-start Flashing Red at Albion Park on June 8. It will be the first standing-start race of his 46-start career.

It is a crucial race with a view to an exciting possible raid on NZ's biggest race, the New Zealand Trotting Cup, in Christchurch on November 12.

"He's qualified from a standing start so he can go straight into the Flashing Red, but he'll need to handle the stand well and step away well for us to push onto the Redcliffe Cup (June 29), as another big test for NZ," Dixon said.

"I'd love to go to NZ, I think that race is pretty much the pinnacle of racing in this part of the world, but he'll need to show us he likes the stand to take on a race like that."

More immediately, Dixon has Group 1 races like the Sunshine Sprint (July 20) and Blacks A Fake (July 27) in his sights.

Leap To Fame's return bout with his older sibling Swayzee in the Blacks A Fake promises to be a highlight of the Queensland Constellations.

Swayzee upstaged Leap To Fame last year, but the latter gained revenge by turning the tables in the Brisbane Inter Dominion final in December.

Leap To Fame has raced 16 times since last year's Blacks A Fake for 13 wins, including the sport's three biggest races: Inter Dominion, Hunter Cup and Miracle Mile.

He will return to racing on an 11-race winning streak.

Dixon also has high hopes for his exciting two-year-old, Fate Awaits.

The colt won his first three starts before a fighting third in the Nutrien final at Melton on April 20.

"He's had a little freshen-up and we'll try and find a couple of lead-up races to get him right for the Protostar," he said.

The $500,000 Protostar, Australasia's richest juvenile race, will be run for the first time at Albion Park on July 27.