Stars Align in Blockbuster Racing Weekend: Across The Ditch
Across the Ditch • May 29th, 2025 2:20 PM • 4 min read
Harness Racing - Adam Hamilton
With the buzz of crushing Cambridge display still lingering, champion Aussie pacer Leap To Fame returns to racing at Albion Park on Saturday night.
It will be his first start since that mesmerising win in the $1mil Race by betcha at Cambridge on April 4.
On every measure, it rates with the greatest of Leap To Fame’s 50 wins so far.
Trainer-driver Grant Dixon is thrilled with how the six-year-old has freshened-up since, but wary of an awkward barrier draw in Saturday night’s 2138m free-for-all.
“Trista (Dixon’s Grant’s wife) and I couldn’t be happier with him, but you wouldn’t believe he’s drawn inside the back row again,” he said.
“It makes it tricky. There’s some nice horses in the race and you can’t snag out the back and give them a huge start. We’ll need some luck.”
Leap To Fame’s last defeat at Albion Park came from the same draw, back on November 4, 2023.
He’s won all 16 starts at “The Creek” since.
“We decided to go straight to a race because the trials here are over a mile and you end up running a quick time and probably having a hard run, so we might as well race him,” Dixon said.
“Racing this week also gives us room to move if any of the races we’re looking at before the Inter Dominion don’t go ahead.”
Dixon would like to race Leap To Fame two or three times before the first round Inter Dominion heats at Albion Park on July 5.
Leap To Fame won the 2023 Brisbane Inter Dominion then missed last year’s series in December at Menangle because of a health setback.
Beyond the Inter Dominion, a tilt at the NZ Cup looms large.
It’s even more attractive given how well Leap To Fame handled his Cambridge trip.
“It couldn’t have gone better. He obviously raced really well and the trip didn’t take much out of him at all,” Dixon said.
“We’ll get through the Inter Dominion and have a good look at the back half of the year, but the New Zealand Cup is such a great race and we’ll look seriously at it.”
Owner Kevin Seymour has openly said the NZ Cup is the “missing piece” in Leap To Fame’s CV as he charges towards becoming the richest all-time pacer in this part of the world.
Greyhound Racing - Jared Timms
The Thunderbolt now looms as the major campaign target for Unleash In Miami.
A veteran of just 28 career starts, Unleash In Miami has continued to go from strength-to-strength since debuting in country Victoria last year, recording 18 victories and a further six minor placings to ultimately put himself in serious contention for next month’s feature race in Grafton.
Trainer Peter Sims has been understandably thrilled with what the son of Kc And All has already produced in his career, and confirmed The Thunderbolt is firmly in his sights after another stunning victory at Goulburn last week.
“Garry Block, his owner, is keen to see him contest The Thunderbolt, so I am setting Unleash In Miami for the 350m heats at Goulburn on June 6,” Sims told GRNSW.
“Unleash In Miami is a very quick dog when he gets the start right and is especially good from Box 1 or 8, but he can be a bit hit and miss from middle draws.”
Won by the South Australian, Cash On Deliver in 2024, the AU$40,000 to-the-winner Thunderbolt will be decided on Saturday, June 21st while heats for the series, set to be contested at eight tracks around New South Wales in the coming weeks, begin in Wagga on Friday night (May 30th).
Thoroughbred Racing - Nick Quinn
A huge day of Group 1 racing at Eagle Farm with the running of both the Group 1 Kingsford-Smith Cup and Queensland Derby.
The Kingsford Smith has a great honour board with topliners such as Falvelon, Bentleigh Biscuit, Black Caviar, Think About It and I Wish I Win all victorious this century.
This year is a star studded lineup headlined by Joliestar, Giga Kick, Benedetta, Private Eye and Rise At Dawn.
The Chris Waller trained Joliestar is likely to start favoruite, she was a breathtaking winner of the Newmarket handicap at Flemington in the autumn when heavily backed.
She will have to overcome the wide draw, coming up with gate 13 of 14, as James McDonald partners her for the first time since last year’s Everest.
Since then, Joliestar has won the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) when ridden by Damian ‘Frosty’ Lane, and also finished to Jimmysstar in the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) with Zac Lloyd riding.
Master trainer Chris Waller is yet to win a Kingsford Smith Cup, and alongside the Stradbroke Handicap, it is the only Group One race in Queensland – of which there are eight, that the 179-time Group One winning trainer has not yet collected.
One punter hopes that will change on Saturday with a bet of $3000 at $3 on Joliestar.
The fascinating runner is the second elect Giga Kick.
He was heavily backed in the Goodwood when appearing a weighted certainty, and while he did not run badly, the run left many experts pondering if his many injuries have led to him being not the horse he once was.
Should he go well and pull up soundly this weekend, trainer Clayton Douglas will consider running Giga Kick in the G1 Stradbroke Handicap two weeks later.
"He's nominated for the Stradbroke Handicap, the weights came out for that and he's got 58.5kg in that race" he said.
"He's weighted right up to his best in the Straddie, so we'll just have to get through Saturday and I'll make that assessment based on how he performs."
One punter anticipates Giga Kick will get into the placings with a bet of $3000 at $2.20.
