New Zealand Trotting Cup 2026: Leap To Fame Wins at a Rain-Soaked Addington

Who won the New Zealand Trotting Cup 2026?

Leap To Fame won the New Zealand Trotting Cup 2026, holding off a late charge from Marketplace by a neck at Addington Raceway in Christchurch on Tuesday, Nov 10. The Queensland pacer was trained and driven by Grant Dixon and started as the $1.90 favourite in the NZ$800,000 Group 1.

Tact McLeod ran third and Swayzee, Leap To Fame's older half-brother and a two-time winner of the race, finished fourth. Rain turned the track to slush and the crowd's big day into what the NZ Herald called rare Cup Day gloom.

It was the 123rd running of the Cup. It was also the fourth year in a row that the trophy crossed the Tasman to Australia.

How the race was won: parked outside the leader

Leap To Fame did not get an easy trip. Swayzee took the early lead, so Dixon sent his horse up to sit parked: right outside the leader, with no horse in front of him to block the wind.

He stayed there for much of the race, covering extra ground in the wet. Down the back straight Dixon attacked Swayzee until the older horse was spent.

In the home straight Tact McLeod came at him on the inside and Marketplace, rated New Zealand's fastest pacer, flew home from behind. Leap To Fame kept going just long enough.

Why this Cup mattered so much to Leap To Fame

Leap To Fame, a stallion known around the stable as "Larry," had already won almost everything in Australasian pacing. His big wins include two Inter Dominion Pacing Championships, two Miracle Miles, the Hunter Cup and the 2025 New Zealand Free-For-All, and he was named Australian Harness Horse of the Year three years running, for 2023, 2024 and 2025.

The NZ Cup kept slipping away:

• 2024: He was ruled out days before the race after another unsatisfactory blood test, about a month after a virus kept him out of the Victoria Cup.
• 2025: He started favourite and finished second to fellow Australian Kingman.
• 2026: He finally won, in conditions that suited nobody.

He is by Bettor's Delight out of the race mare Lettucereason, the same dam as Swayzee. Dixon trains him with his wife, Trista, and told reporters this was the race he grew up watching.

What is the New Zealand Trotting Cup?

The New Zealand Trotting Cup, or simply "the Cup" to Kiwis, is New Zealand's biggest and most famous harness race. It was first run in 1904 and is a Group 1, the top level of racing.

The essentials:

• Where: Addington Raceway, Christchurch.
• When: The second Tuesday of November, the centrepiece of Christchurch's Cup and Show Week. Show Day, the Friday of that week, is the public holiday for Christchurch and North and Central Canterbury (South Canterbury has its own anniversary day in September).
• Distance: 3200m, about two miles. That is long for a harness race; many races are 1609m to 2600m.
• Start: A standing start, where horses line up behind tapes and walk forward at the starter's direction, rather than following a moving gate. They don't have to stop dead if the line is good, but the starter can make them stand.
• Prize money: NZ$800,000 in 2026 (NZ$1 million in 2025).

Three horses share the record of three wins: Indianapolis (1934–36), False Step (1958–60) and Terror To Love (2011–13). Driver Ricky May won it seven times.

One thing confuses newcomers: it is called the Trotting Cup, but it is a race for pacers. The name dates from the days when "trotting" was the umbrella word for all harness racing.

What is harness racing? Pacing vs trotting explained

Harness racing is horse racing where the horse usually pulls a light two-wheeled cart called a sulky, steered by a driver rather than a jockey. (There is also mounted trotting, or trot monté, with riders on saddled trotters, mostly in Europe.) The horses are usually Standardbreds, a breed built for speed at a gait instead of a gallop. You can read more about the breed on our breeds page.

The key rule: a horse must stay in its gait. If it breaks into a gallop, the driver has to slow it and get it back on gait, which usually costs the race.

There are two racing gaits:

New Zealand runs both kinds of races, often on the same card. On Cup Day the Dominion is the big trotting race, while the Cup is for pacers.

Want a closer look at the gait in North America? Our Little Brown Jug guide shows pacing in the US, and our Mallorca trotting article shows how trotters race in Spain.

Harness racing terms you'll hear on Cup Day

The commentary moves fast. These are the words that matter most:

• Parked: Racing outside the leader with no cover. It is one of the hardest spots in the race. Australians call it the "death seat"; Kiwis also say "facing the breeze."
• In the trail: Sitting right behind the leader, saving energy.
• Cover: A horse in front that blocks the wind.
• Handicap: In standing starts, stronger horses may start 10m or 20m behind the line.
• Break / galloping: The horse leaves its gait and must be corrected.
• Passing lane: An inside lane in the home straight that opens for horses trapped on the rail.
• Off the bit: A horse that is no longer pulling against the bit, either because it is tiring or because the driver is urging it along.

For more racing words, check our glossary or browse the sport in disciplines.

The Australia–New Zealand rivalry

The Tasman Sea separates two harness racing nations that love to beat each other. New Zealand has a proud history of producing champion pacers, many of whom were sold to race in Australia.

Lately, though, the Cup has gone the other way:

• 2023 and 2024: Swayzee (New South Wales).
• 2025: Kingman (trained and driven by Luke McCarthy).
• 2026: Leap To Fame (Queensland).

That run is why Marketplace's close second was cheered so loudly by locals. A neck was all that stood between New Zealand and a home win.

What to watch next

The week isn't over at Addington. Here is what to keep an eye on:

1. Friday, Nov 13: the New Zealand Free-For-All. Leap To Fame won this race in 2025, and a start would set up a clash with Captains Mistress. It depends on how he pulls up from the Cup, so treat it as a possibility until the final field is confirmed.
2. Leap To Fame's farewell tour. The NZ Herald reported he may race for about nine more months, finishing at the Inter Dominion in his home state next July.
3. Marketplace. After running the champion this close, he is the Kiwi to follow into the summer's big races.
4. The 2027 Cup. It will be held on the second Tuesday of November 2027. Check back here: we'll update this guide each year.

New to racing? Our learn hub and the Breeders Crown guide are a good next step.