Racing: Caulfield-Melbourne Cups epitomise the year of females

PAUL GUEORGIEFF of NZPA looks at 2001 and the females who took much of the macho out of New Zealand racing.

Racing remains an industry dominated by males but the year 2001 showed why New Zealand is regarded as a land of opportunity for women.

About 20 years ago a horse-mad, Welsh-born woman arrived in New Zealand, drawn by the country's reputation to provide women a fair go in racing.

Her name was Sheila Skinner. Today, as Sheila Laxon, she is known as the first woman to be officially recorded as the trainer of the Melbourne Cup winner in 141 years.

Within weeks of arriving she started as an office worker at the Waikato stable of Laurie Laxon and soon began riding trackwork. They married two years after she arrived.

The couple now live apart, with Laurie having moved to train on the lucrative Singapore scene.

Sheila Laxon produced Ethereal to win the $A2 million Caulfield Cup (2400m) in October, just the second time a woman had trained the winner of that race.

But it was to become the first leg of the greatest double in Australasian racing. The second leg was the $A4 million Melbourne Cup in November.

No woman had officially been recorded as the trainer of the Melbourne Cup in the previous 140 years of the race. Laxon did not miss the chance to highlight the role of women.

"What a man can do, a woman can do as well," Laxon told a press gathering.

"And if not, better," a woman reporter added aloud.

The female dominance was completed with Ethereal being a mare. Ethereal was just the third mare to complete the Caulfield-Melbourne Cups double. The previous two had been Let's Elope (1991) and Rivette (1939).

Taking out such a double is a feat in itself. Ethereal was the 11th to win both races in the same year.

Ethereal was the third of three mares to make the headlines in 2001. The others were Wellington Cup winner Smiling Like and Sunline.

Smiling Like's victory in the Wellington Cup completed a notable double as she had won the New Zealand Cup two months earlier. She was subsequently retired to stud and in October foaled a colt by Cape Cross.

Sunline all but completed one of Australasian racing's greatest trebles. The Melbourne Cup is the most famous race in this part of the world but most prestigious is the Cox Plate.

She had won the race of champions, as it is called, the previous two years.

Only one horse - Kingston Town - had won the Cox Plate three times.

Sunline started the favourite with Melbourne bookmakers in the Cox Plate, she received the biggest ovation in the pre-race introductions.

Western Australia galloper Northerly, who had beaten Sunline into second two starts earlier, finished the best.

The male to shine in 2001 was 17-year-old whizzkid rider Michael Walker. He won the jockeys' premiership for the second time, setting a New Zealand record for most wins a season.

He chalked up 182 wins which beat the previous best of 162, set by 10-times premiership winner Lance O'Sullivan in the 1996-97 season.

There was a cliffhanger result to the trainers' premiership. The partnership of Graeme Rogerson and Keith Hawtin got home by a nose when they produced the winner of the last race of the season.

Second was Paul O'Sullivan on 57 wins who did not have a runner on the last day of racing.

The biggest controversy belonged to Wanganui trainer Kevin Myers following his comments on Trackside television after the victory of Stacey Jones in the Waikato Hurdles in May.

In a pre-race interview Myers expressed some doubt over the chances of Stacey Jones because of the heavy track.

But after the race he made the startling statement that he had misled punters.

At a subsequent inquiry Myers was fined $3000 and required to pay $2000 in costs for bring racing into disrepute but it was said there was no evidence he had benefited from betting.

On the jumping scene itself there were several highlights. One was the dead heat for first between Smart Hunter and Sir Avion in the Great Northern Steeplechase.

It was the first dead heat in the 117-year history of the race.

Smart Hunter had won the Great Northern Hurdles two days earlier and it completed a fairytale result for trainer Ken Browne who was left paralysed after breaking his neck when falling from a horse in training on May 1.

2001 – The year in review