The right choice for Symons Laxon Racing

By Glenn Davis

The passion for success still burns for the husband-and-wife training partnership of Sheila Laxon and John Symons, who may have found their next Group 1 winner after Knight’s Choice’s victory in the Group 3 Winx Guineas at the Sunshine Coast last month.

Laxon is best known for writing her name in the history books when she claimed the Group 1 Caulfield and Melbourne Cups double with mighty mare, Ethereal in 2001. 

A multiple Group 1-winning trainer, Laxon broke the ceiling for female trainers by becoming the first woman to train a Melbourne Cup winner with Ethereal before she joined forces to train in partnership with Symons in 2006. 

While Laxon is best known for her feats with Ethereal, Symons is well remembered by Queenslanders for his Group 1 Doomben 10,000 victory with Blue Diamond Stakes winner Bel Esprit, among many other Group triumphs. 

Knight’s Choice went into the Winx Guineas on the back of three straight wins at the Sunshine Coast and Doomben in May and June. 

The son of Extreme Choice had started only six times prior to the Winx Guineas and was beaten into fourth place in a lowly Maiden Handicap over 1200m at Kilcoy on May 4. 

An $85,000 buy at the Magic Millions, Knight’s Choice produced a Winx-like finish storming home from near last in the Guineas, which is named in honour of Australia’s former champion galloper. 

Ironically, Winx’s streak of 16 consecutive wins began in the Sunshine Coast Guineas in 2015 when ridden by local jockey Larry Cassidy. 

Despite his string of wins, Knight’s Choice drifted in the Winx Guineas markets to a $15 chance as punters laid out the cash for several interstate raiders including runner-up Fashion Legend and Grebeni. 

Punters seemingly overlooked Knight’s Choice dominant one length win in a three-year-old Benchmark race at Doomben at his previous start in June. 

On that occasion, the last 600m was clocked at 33.84 seconds, which meant Knight’s Choice would easily have smashed the 33 second barrier. 

“It would be interesting to see what time he ran for the last 600m that day but he would have smashed 32 seconds for sure,” Laxon said. 

“It was a mind-boggling performance.” 

Laxon and Symons were always confident Knight’s Choice could win the Winx Guineas and were somewhat surprised with his starting price. 

“To do what he did the day he won at Doomben when they ran 33 seconds, he had to be something special to pick them up and win the way he did,” Laxon said. 

“We were confident he could win the Guineas but we still can’t understand his good price. 

“We were a bit concerned there was something in the race that we weren’t aware of.”

Laxon described Knight’s Choice as a “little squib” when she first spotted him as a yearling after he was knocked down at the Magic Millions sales to Symons. 

“He wasn’t imposing at all when I first saw him and I thought, ‘Geez, he’s a little squib’ as he looked more like a pony,” she said. 

“He was a nothing horse really and he didn’t impress you as an individual. 

“He wasn’t a big grunty type but he was a good mover and now has developed a great turn of foot.”

Laxon, who married Symons last year, believed they both knew Knight’s Choice was above average when he finished second on a heavy track at Ipswich in mid-May. 

“He didn’t put his hand up until Ipswich when he ran second, but he should have won that day,” Laxon said. 

“The next start he was very impressive at the Sunshine Coast even though he was against ordinary horses on paper. 

“He was beaten at Kilcoy early in his preparation but even champions get beaten there. 

“They’re on the bend all the time at Kilcoy and they often get unbalanced. By the time they show up the race is all over.” 

Born in Glamorgan in Wales, Laxon started off in showjumping and eventing as a child before riding racehorses as a 12-year-old. 

“I decided when I was a bit older that I really wanted to be a jockey so I hitchhiked around the world when I was 18,” Laxon said. 

“I followed my dream to Cyprus to get a rider’s licence but it didn’t work out, so I eventually got it in New Zealand,” she said. 

After lobbing in Sydney, Laxon caught a bus to Canberra to live with some friends in 1972. 

“I stayed there for five weeks then flew to New Zealand after popping up to Cairns in North Queensland for a short while,” she said. 

“When I had my first trial as a rider, I can still remember what a great thrill it was. 

“I can still remember getting changed in a caravan in those days and I think I was one of the first females to ride in steeple chase and hurdle races.” 

Laxon’s first marriage was to top New Zealand trainer Laurie Laxon in 1983 and she rode many of his top horses in trackwork, including Empire Rose who won the Melbourne Cup in 1988. 

In 1997, Laxon swapped her saddle for a stopwatch when she was finally granted a trainer’s licence. 

“I was really lucky when I started off training and had about six horses and when Laurie went to Singapore, I took over his New Zealand stable in 1999,” she said. 

“I had an incredible run of wins in those early years and I was really lucky to get the horses I did.” 

Laxon and Symons were based at Victoria’s Macedon Lodge for several years before moving to Caloundra in 2017. 

Knight’s Choice was bought by Cameron Bain, whose friendship with Symons goes back to their days in Seymour in Victoria. 

Bain now races the gelding in partnership with Kaye and Richard Waldron. 

“Cameron is involved in the mining business drilling for gold and oil,” Laxon said. 

“Knight’s Choice was spelled after the Winx Guineas and we might look at the Cox Plate in October with him. 

“The owners had an offer of $1 million to sell Knight’s Choice before he won the Guineas but Cameron (Bain) doesn’t want to sell him at this stage. 

“John has always wanted to win a Cox Plate if the horse can run 2000m and I think he will. 

“He’s also a Magic Millions horse so we’ll look at that as well in January. 

“There are a lot of options on the table in the spring but you never know he could just be an autumn horse.” 

Time will tell if Symons’ and Laxon’s Cox Plate dream will come true.