Racing: Top fillies tempt trainer to come home

By MIKE DILLON


Last year Laurie Laxon said he would retire from racing when he left Singapore.

At New Zealand Bloodstock's Ready To Run sale at Karaka yesterday, he revealed he may one day be back training in New Zealand.

And it's because of his mate, New Zealand Bloodstock principal Peter Vela.

"They took me down to Pencarrow Stud and I walked around the paddock and saw all the retained daughters of mares like Romanee Conti and Ethereal.

"It makes your eyes water.

"Paddocks full of group one mares with foals by group one stallions.

"Peter keeps doing that to me every now and then because he knows what it does to me."

Laxon would not be drawn on when he is likely to return, but says he has been thinking about once again setting up on the magnificent property about 15km east of Cambridge, from where he prepared Empire Rose to win the Melbourne Cup.

"There are no horses on it at the moment, but the property has been kept ticking over."

It was unknown territory when Laxon gave up New Zealand racing to train in Singapore five years ago.

He is now not only Singapore's champion trainer, but last weekend he broke the record for the number of winners in a season.

"I equalled the record last Saturday and broke it on Sunday."

It would have been appropriate if his Singapore Gold Cup winner on Sunday, Raul, was the record-breaking performance, but Laxon's luck is running so hot he had produced three winners on the card already by the time the cup came around.

Training in Asian racing centres is always a catch-22 situation - train winners regularly and more, and better, horses arrive at the stable gate. Have a bad run for a period and owners disappear.

When Laxon was leading trainer for the first two months of the first full season in Singapore he was off and running.

"The phone suddenly started ringing."

And it hasn't stopped ringing.

"I've now got four of Singapore's leading owners in my stable."

The Singapore record was 90 winners for the January 1 to December 31 season and Laxon took his tally to 94 last Sunday.

He is looking to break the 100 benchmark.

Laxon looked pretty relaxed around the Karaka sale ring yesterday and Tuesday, but still managed to pick up nine 2-year-olds to take back to Singapore.

Marketing manager Petrea Vela was thrilled with the two-day sale.

"The select session the first day fetched $7.7 million for 127 lots sold compared to $6.4 million for 141 lots last year. And the general session today was remarkable.

"The clearance was 70 per cent, which was way up on last year, the average was up and the aggregate tripled on last year's figures.

"Last year that session brought $493,000 and the aggregate for today's sale is $1.63 million."

Asian buyers were very active. Altogether 33 horses from this sale are destined for Korea.