Team Purdon excel on Cranbourne’s big night

[Wandering Eyes]

By Adam Hamilton 

It’s been a fantastic Cranbourne Cup meeting in Victoria for Mark and Nathan Purdon.

Last night Don’t Stop Dreaming built on a luckless but good Hunter Cup run to finish a tremendous second to Leap To Fame in the $100,000 Group 2 Cranbourne Cup while Oscar Bonavena made a lie of his Great Southern Star final flop with a stunning Group 1 win in the $60,000 Bruce Skeggs Trotters’ Cup.

Don’t Stop Dreaming’s effort to settle near last and circle the field to sit parked was up with the best of his career.

Despite having to sit outside Leap To Fame for the last half of the race, the five-year-old just kept finding to finish only 4.7m away.

They ran an almost unheard of last 800m around the slow Cranbourne track in 55sec flat.

Significantly, when stand-in driver Kate Gath made the move to sit in the “death”, she gave Tact McLeod a one-one trail.

But Tact McLeod was struggling around the final bend. He did keep coming, but finished more than four metres from Dont Stop Dreaming in third spot.

Oscar Bonavena’s win was remarkable.

The injury-plagued nine-year-old settled last and almost 50m off the leaders, but blew them off the track with an explosive burst from last at the bell to first at 400m.

Stand-in driver Anthony Butt then just nursed him down the home straight to win by 12m in a 2min0.9sec mile rate for the 2555m.

It showed he was right on target for a Sydney trip where he will clash again with The Locomotive and Watts Up Partytime in the $100,000 Group 1 Hammerhead Mile on Miracle Mile night (March 8).

Surely Don’t Stop Dreaming’s run booked him a trip to Sydney to chase the Miracle Mile.

Meanwhile Leap To Fame’s pathway towards a first trip to New Zealand is much clearer, with trainer-driver Grant Dixon confirming the champ would continue to follow the program which won him last year’s $1m Miracle Mile on March 8.

And then it’s full steam ahead to Cambridge for the $1m Race by Betcha on April 8.

Interestingly, Leap To Fame will be flown from Melbourne to Brisbane for some time back “home” before an eight-hour road trip to Newcastle for his next run, Friday week’s $100,000 Group 2 Newcastle Mile.

Victory gets him straight into the Miracle Mile.

If he’s beaten, Leap To Fame would then have to back-up on March 1 in one of the two Miracle Mile qualifying sprints at Menangle.

Last year he won at Cranbourne, Newcastle and then created history by becoming the first horse to win a Miracle Mile from a draw wider than gate six. He started from barrier seven.

Dixon confirmed Leap To Fame would then head back to his stables outside of Brisbane to prepare for the NZ trip.

“He’s just so comfortable at home and we’ve got green grass there, not many other places in Australia have at this time of year,” he said.

“We haven’t finalised just how that four weeks will look between the Miracle Mile and NZ, but he’ll obviously need a run.

“My preference would be to have that at Albion Park and then head back to Sydney to get the flight to Auckland.”

Leap To Fame’s first trip to NZ will come after two previously aborted trips, to last year’s Race By Grins and the NZ Cup.

“We’ve always wanted to go, it’s an important missing piece in his career,” owner Kevin Seymour said.

Seymour said any NZ racing plans beyond Cambridge would hinge on his performance in that race.

Races like the Taylor Mile and Messenger look good options, but with the Inter Dominion moved to July at Albion Park, there’s a big chance Leap To Fame could head straight back home for a break.

Leap To Fame’s looming NZ trip comes after Australia’s great trotter, Just Believe, became just the second Aussie horse and the first in 40 years to win the NZ Horse of the Year title.

Last year was a massive one for Aussies in NZ with Just Believe’s deeds, Keayang Zahara winning three times at Addington, Swayzee successfully defending his NZ Cup crown and Better Eclipse winning the Auckland Cup.

Leap To Fame and Catch A Wave are the confirmed Aussies for the Race by Betcha, while The Locomotive, Keayang Chucky and Arcee Phoenix all look set to tackle the TAB Trot on the same night at Cambridge.

 

 

 

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