Leaderboard makes it two Steeplechase wins in seven days in Victoria

At the peak of his powers, Leaderboard (10 g Street Cry – Flower Fairy, by Dynaformer) was too good when winning the $75,000 J. E. H. Spencer Memorial Steeplechase (4000m) on 13 April at Pakenham. After comfortably winning the Open Steeplechase (3250m) a week earlier at Ballarat, and as a lead-in to the $150,000 Brierley Chase (3450m) on Tuesday 29 April and the $350,000 Grand Annual Steeplechase (5500m) on Thursday 1 May, during the Warrnambool carnival, Leaderboard had no problem coping with the seven-day turnaround.

Owned by Fortuna Leaderboard Syndicate (Mgr: John Galvin), he was purchased in October 2018 at the Tattersalls Sale in U.K., and his 11 wins have yielded over $640,000 in earnings. Leaderboard has now won four jumping races, including three steeplechases, and further enhanced a terrific autumn record with eight of his 11 wins coming between March and June.

A day beforehand, following the win by Fortuna Racings stable-mate Star Shadow (Reliable Man) at Riccarton, John Galvin commented on Leaderboard, saying: “He’s had a fantastic week. He had a pretty soft run last week, which took nothing out of him, and Mark (Walker) has hardly done anything with him since then. Just ticking over and he went to the beach on Wednesday for a swim in the surf and worked through the sand dunes on Friday. He’s a great jumper, in good form, so we’re pretty confident of him racing well again.”

Sharing the confidence, jockey Will Gordon, who was also aboard for the recent win at Ballarat, had Leaderboard at the head of affairs, with a rival to his outside for company, and after another polished jumping display he pulled away in the straight to win by four lengths.

Click HERE to watch the race replay

“He’s an old marvel and it was another terrific win,” said trainer Mark Walker. “A lot of satisfaction comes from wins like this, because there’s a lot of ground work and preparation that goes into it. Everyone at the stable just adores him and we’re really looking forward to getting him to Warrnambool now. The great thing with these jumpers, too, is that they’re brilliant at helping to educate the yearlings, so it’s a great dual purpose and they love it.”

Although facing only three rivals, Leaderboard was the only one wanted in betting and he closed at $1.30 on the NZ TAB tote. Already something of a course specialist at Warrnambool, winning a 3200-metre Hurdle at his first attempt and following with a first and third over 3450 metres in Steeplechases, Leaderboard will be an in-form drawcard during the carnival and shapes as a strong contender in each of his two prestigious jumps assignments.

“Leaderboard” – Steeples Victory at Pakenham  –  13th April 2025 – Will Gordon aboard

“It has been a good trip (from New Zealand),” John Galvin, who was on track at Pakenham, said. “I was up early this morning and went to the Cranbourne stables to inspect all our horses and then I travelled with Mark (Walker) and Ben (Gleeson) to the races. We were a bit nervous heading into the race, whether the track was going to be too firm, or not. Under the new rules for jumps races, if they upgrade them under a Soft5 then they could call the meeting off. It was a Soft6 to start with, then after the first race they made it a Soft5 and thankfully it held there. Will (Gordon) reported that although he was pressured two or three times during the race, he had it under control, and our boy was just too strong. He got in a bit close at the second last fence, just as he did last Sunday at Ballarat, but overall, his jumping was very good. We had a look at him afterwards with Mark and he was very happy with the way he came through it and thought he’d pulled up well. He handled himself extremely well and Mark thinks he’s still got a bit of improvement heading into Warrnambool. Its good to have these horses winning and three or four of the owners in Leaderboard are also in Star Shadow, so they’ve had a good weekend. The staff say that Leaderboard is like a two-year-old around the stables, always alert, never tired, and always wanting to do more. It was a nice stake, $75,000, and some good money is on offer at Warrnambool.”

Leaderboard was strapped by Jason Levin.