Knight’s Choice can ease Sheila Laxon’s Melbourne Cup ‘devastation’ following Mission of Love scratching
Sheila Laxon had her Melbourne Cup hand reduced to one runner but she isn’t giving up hope of maintaining her perfect record in the race.
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Sunshine Coast trainer Sheila Laxon will look to turn Melbourne Cup devastation to jubilation in the space of a week on Tuesday as she looks to maintain her perfect record in the race that stops the nation.
Laxon, who trains in partnership with John Symons was set to have a two-pronged attack in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday before Mission Of Love was scratched by Racing Victoria’s vets on Friday.
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It leaves the 2001 Melbourne Cup winner with just Knight’s Choice in the race, as she looks to upstage some of Australia’s biggest stables with the $85,000 bargain buy.
“We were devastated with it, that is what they have chosen to do, so who are we to argue?” Laxon said.
“It is so unfortunate for the owners who booked flights and accommodation.
“The horse is sound, we will just find another race for him and go there.”
With 17 of the 24 runners on Tuesday bred in the northern hemisphere, Laxon said she has extra motivation with Knight’s Choice, who is one of three Australian horses in the race.
“I would love nothing more than for him to win, of course I want him to win, but even more so because he is trained out of a small stable, owned by a battler, he’s a cheap buy and is what the Aussie story about winning the cup is about,” she said.
“The internationals came in and made it too hard for the Australians and New Zealanders to even get a run.
“I better not blot the record book, I am one from one in Melbourne Cup.
“We have been based out of Macedon, which has had plenty of luck in the race, they can go out in the paddocks during the day and freshen up.”
• ‘Racing’s a rollercoaster, but he never changes’: Waller’s team ethos
With just 28 horses in work, the feat of Laxon and Symons having two runners in the Melbourne Cup was too good to be true, with the pair making up a team of just three yearlings the stable purchased in 2020.
“John bought three yearlings that year and two of them made it into the Cup field,” Laxon said.
“He has such an amazing eye for a yearling … John has an uncanny ability to pick an athlete at a cheap price.”
• Racenet’s Melbourne Cup sweep
With Knight’s Choice backing up out of a slashing run in Wednesday’s Bendigo Cup, Laxon said he had pulled up well and it was “all systems go” towards the Melbourne Cup.
“He ran super down at Bendigo, he was a bit unlucky,” Laxon said.
“Robbie Dolan said the extra distance of the Melbourne Cup will really suit him because he went to the line well.
“They are falling by the wayside like ninepins in the Cup.
“We wouldn’t be going there unless we were 100 per cent happy with the horses.”
Originally published as Knight’s Choice can ease Sheila Laxon’s Melbourne Cup ‘devastation’ following Mission of Love scratching
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