Larry set to reach further into equine immortality
Matt Markham - Raceform • July 17th, 2025 1:24 PM • 4 min read
How do you beat the seemingly unbeatable? The simple answer on Saturday night at Albion Park is that you might not be able to.
Leap To Fame is set to start one of the shortest-priced favourites in Inter Dominion Pacing Grand Final history as he chases his second success in the series in front of his home fans in Queensland.
There might be the suggestion that there’s no such thing as a certainty in racing, but when it comes to the horse affectionately known as Larry, he is quite often the exception to the rule.
On two occasions already this series, he’s defied niggly second-row barrier draws to dominate his rivals. With the number-one saddlecloth in Saturday’s A$1 million final, the confidence has only grown.
Yet for Grant and Trista Dixon, the power couple behind the superstar and many of the state’s other top-line racehorses, it’s more about the privilege of having a horse like Leap To Fame in the barn.
“He’s taken us so many places and given us so many highs, he’s fulfilled a dream really,” Grant Dixon said this week.
Flawless through the two rounds of heats, barrier one may pose a few heart-in-mouth moments for punters happy to take the below $1.20 odds likely on offer for the big son of Bettor’s Delight given he’s not renowned for his electric gate speed.
That said, his high speed level is ridiculous, and it’s hard to see a scenario in which Grant Dixon, who will once again be in the sulky, finds himself in anything like a precarious position after the first few hundred metres.
But the Inter Dominion Final is never about just the one horse, and while there’s no Kiwi contender there to cheer home – with the exception of a few Kiwi-bred pacers – there’s still plenty of intrigue over how things will unfold.
Fellow Queenslander Sure Thing Captain has been the other form horse of the series, also winning both of his heats, but a tricky barrier draw off the second row has lessened his chances of the upset.
Don Hugo, one of very few in the past 12 months to have beaten Leap To Fame, was well below par last week when beaten into eighth place behind the champion. However, his hopes grow with the help of champion horseman Luke McCarthy, who both trains and drives.
Then there’s the consistent pace behind them, Captains Knock, who looks set to follow Leap To Fame everywhere, plus another local hope in Speak The Truth, and even the enigmatic Catch A Wave, who will have to do it the hard way from the outside of the front row.
They are all quality horses in their own right, but Saturday night may well prove that it is Larry’s world and we’re just living in it.
