A chance meeting on a Melbourne Cup cruise has afforded Sheila Laxon and Robbie Dolan victory in Australia’s greatest race.
A former contestant on The Voice, Dolan was aboard a P & O cruise two years ago when he met Laxon, a Melbourne Cup ambassador, who had the prized trophy and was having photographs with passengers.
Dolan did not miss his chance of having a photo taken with the Cup, thinking it might be his one chance of holding the coveted trophy.
But Laxon and partner John Symons along with Dolan are now winners of the Melbourne Cup, courtesy of the Knight’s Choice at Flemington on Tuesday.
“We met on a P & O cruise, two years ago,” Dolan said.
“I was singing on a Melbourne Cup cruise and Sheila was there with the Melbourne Cup, and here we are, we’ve won the Melbourne Cup.”
It was Laxon’s second win in the Melbourne Cup, becoming the first female to officially win the race in 2001 with Ethereal.
It was where she met Symons with the pair initially training in Victoria before a move to the Sunshine Coast seven years ago with a view to retirement.
“Some of the owners said they wanted us to finish off with us and I think we were up there for three months when we won a big race on Magic Millions Day and off to the yearling sales we went,” Symons said.
“We’ve kept on going and people with us have pushed us to keep us going.
“We said if we could pull it off, we would think about it (retirement), but we have a couple of really, really nice young horses up there.”
While Knight’s Choice is by former Blue Diamond Stakes winner Extreme Choice, Laxon said the secret to a stayer was getting them to relax.
Knight’s Choice was one of three Australian-bred horses in Tuesday’s race, and she pointed to Etheral’s sire Rhythm who was known as a sire of gallopers up to a mile.
“Robbie said it was a lot quicker than he thought it was going to be and that doesn’t suit the Europeans so much,” Laxon said.
“Robbie just did pace work around and was push button. He knew he had an amazing sprint from the Extreme Choice side.
“You need to have sprinters but teach them to be stayers.
“Rhythm, Ethereal’s sire, he won the Breeders’ Cup in America, and he was only a breeder of horses up to a mile.
“They said Rhythm horses couldn’t stay, but that year I trained two Oaks winners by Rhythm.
“You need that speed and educate that speed, sit and do nothing.”
Symons said Knight’s Choice was a $85,000 yearling purchase who has now won connections a touch over $5 million in prize money.
Along the way major part-owner Cameron Bain knocked back a $2.3 million offer from Hong Kong, preferring to race the gelding.
He now has a Melbourne Cup trophy.