Laxon dreaming of spring goals with Sunshine Coast-bound trio
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Co-trainer looks to the future with talented threesome vying for stakes glory this weekend
Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m)-winning trainer Sheila Laxon is daring to dream of spring racing carnival glory if her three stakes runners can run up to expectations at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday, headlined by the stable’s highly progressive stayer Knight’s Choice (Extreme Choice).
Together with his stablemate Mission Of Love (The Mission), stakes winner Knight’s Choice will tackle the Caloundra Cup (Listed, 2400m) while Winsome Star (Star Turn) will attempt to land a second successive Winx Guineas (Gr 3, 1600m) for Laxon and her training partner John Symons, following Knight’s Choice’s devastating victory in the race 12 months ago.
Now based at Caloundra, Laxon and Symons have yet to send a team south to Melbourne since relocating their operation from Victoria to the Sunshine State in 2016. But the pair have high hopes for their talented trio and will have a better picture of how they might measure up in the spring after Saturday’s fixture, which officially brings the curtain down on the 2024 Queensland Winter Carnival.
Although he might lack Knight’s Choice’s killer punch, Winsome Star has performed creditably in stakes company on numerous occasions since breaking his maiden on debut at the Sunshine Coast almost exactly 12 months ago.
He finished fourth behind Lee Freedman’s Encoder (Encryption) in the Grand Prix (Gr 3, 2100m) at Eagle Farm in December, and was most recently seen flashing home from the back of the pack to grab fifth in the Gunsynd Classic (Gr 3, 1600m) at the same venue three weeks ago.
Robbie Dolan rode the three-year-old that day and sticks with him in Saturday’s $300,000 contest, which is named in honour of the mighty mare who began her 33-race unbeaten streak with a slashing victory in the race in 2015 when it was known as the Sunshine Coast Guineas.
Despite being renowned for her cheery optimism, Laxon would be forced to concede that Winsome Star is no Winx but the trainer is nonetheless confident that the versatile gelding is more than capable of making his presence felt this weekend.
“He’s very tough and tenacious,” Laxon told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“His three runs this prep have been very good and Robbie is getting to know him better with each run, so he’s certainly got a good chance of running at least a place on Saturday. He tends to get back in the run so you’re always relying on a bit of luck with that style of racing, which he didn’t get last time. But if he can get the splits at the right time on Saturday, he’ll definitely be there or thereabouts.”
Knight’s Choice created a lasting impression when he launched from near last to win last year’s Winx Guineas, with jockey Jaden Lloyd even afforded the luxury of easing him down near the line. However, things didn’t quite go to plan at his subsequent start in the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m), but Laxon’s belief in his ability never wavered and that faith has been vindicated with a series of notable displays during the winter carnival.
Having kicked off his campaign with a runner-up finish behind Ciaron Maher’s smart Gringotts (Per Incanto) in the Members’ Handicap (Listed, 1600m) at Doomben, Knight’s Choice ran fourth in the Lord Mayor’s Cup (Gr 3, 1800m) before registering back-to-back stakes placings at Eagle Farm in The Q22 (Gr 2, 2200m) and the Tattersall’s Cup (Gr. 3, 2400m).
Having seen Knight’s Choice finish strongly over 2400 metres behind the Danny O’Brien pair of Vow And Declare (Declaration Of War) and Young Werther (Tavistock) last Saturday, Laxon was keen to back him up and has some lofty future targets in mind for her stable star – particularly if he can get through what is likely to be a testing track on Saturday after the recent rainfall across Queensland.
Given Melbourne’s notoriously unpredictable weather patterns in the spring, a horse that can handle any track conditions is worth its weight in gold; and with Laxon daydreaming of securing a second Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) – 23 years on from Ethereal’s (Rhythm) groundbreaking victory – now is as good a time as any to test Knight Choice’s mettle on a heavy surface.
“He’s very light on his feet, he’s not overly big and is a beautiful mover so I’m confident he’ll handle the likely track conditions,” said Laxon of their $85,000 Gold Coast yearling sale purchase, who has now amassed in excess of $600,000 in career prize-money earnings.
“Until the pressure goes on in a race, you never really know so we need to test him and find out if he is a wet tracker before we can think about sending him to Melbourne in the spring. The weather forecasters can’t make their minds up as usual so it’s difficult to know how wet the track will be on Saturday, but unless it’s absolutely bottomless I’d say he will run. They told us to scratch Ethereal from the Caulfield Cup in 2001 because the track would be too wet, and thank goodness we didn’t listen.
“Knight’s Choice is fit and well and his work in the week was very good, so we’re happy to back him up. His form this prep has been outstanding, his run last Saturday behind Vow And Declare was just fantastic and he’s such a laid back dude he handles his racing so well. He’s very athletic so his runs don’t take too much out of him, but whatever happens on Saturday he’ll go for a spell then we’ll start to plan what we do with him in the spring.
“I don’t know how far he can go, but he’s a very exciting prospect to have in the stable and he certainly makes getting out of bed early that much easier. At the moment, the way he’s going there’s no reason why we wouldn’t give serious thought to taking him to Melbourne in the spring and aiming him at some of their feature races. He looks like the right candidate and due to my association with the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, obviously we’d love to run him in those sort of races.”
Given Extreme Choice’s (Not A Single Doubt) explosive speed over sprint trips, Knight’s Choice gets his staying prowess from his dam Midnight Pearl (More Than Ready), who won six times for the Laxon-Symons partnership over distances ranging from 1100 metres to 2015 metres.
But Laxon is of the view that you can train any horse to stay provided it has that most coveted of equine qualities – a turn of foot.
“I’m a great believer that if a horse can sprint at the end of a race, you can teach it to stay,” she said.
“You need to have that turn of foot to win staying races, so if they have that you can train a horse to harness its energy for when they really need it. That’s especially true of Knight’s Choice, he’s so relaxed that he just cruises around until he has to go into overdrive at the end. He’s got a beautiful sprint, and I think all stayers need to have that somewhere in their pedigree. You then just need to educate them to run a trip, which is where us trainers earn our money.”
Despite their considerable gap in the betting markets – Knight’s Choice is vying for favouritism whereas Mission Of Love opened at $41 – it wouldn’t shock Laxon if the mare were able to spring something of a surprise in her hometown cup.
The four-year-old peeled off some sizzling late sectional times last Saturday in the Tattersall’s Gold Crown (Listed, 2143m), only to miss out on adding a valuable black-type placing to her pedigree page by the narrowest of margins.
Laxon is hoping the chestnut mare – a real ‘dark horse’ in the race according to her trainer – can make amends on the quick back-up this Saturday, when she tackles 2400 metres for the first time in her career.
“We’ve always had a lot of time for this mare,” she said.
“She had some feet issues earlier in her career, but she seems to be over that now and I think she’s been a little bit under-rated in Saturday’s race. She’s got a lot of ability and great tenacity, so she’ll be trying her heart out until the very end.
“I thought she had finished third last week, which would have been a huge result for her but it wasn’t to be and I’m sure she’ll handle the quick back-up given her nature. Depending on how she goes on Saturday, she might also travel down to Melbourne in the spring because there are some lovely mares races at that time of year which might suit her.
“We’ll just have to wait and see, it’s always been my ambition to get back there one day and if everything goes to plan on Saturday and in the coming weeks, we might have a nice team travelling down. You’ve got to dream in this game.”