Laurie Laxon, nine times the leading trainer in Singapore and winner of better than 1200 races over the course of the past 17 years, is set to return to his native New Zealand as early as this September to take up training duties for Pencarrow Stud's Sir Peter Vela from his Maungatautari farm in Waikato.
“It's been a wonderful experience, but it's time to go, while I'm still healthy. I've done it all,” Laxon, who was the fourth generation in his family to train horses (his great-grandfather Owen Curran-McGee, an Irish vet, was the first), told the Singapore Turf Club's Michael Lee. “I still remember my beginnings here. George Simon, who was then the race caller at Kranji, rang me up and asked me if I wanted to train in Singapore. At first, I wasn't so keen, as I didn't want to travel up to Ipoh or Penang, but he told me Singapore was a standalone meeting then. I discussed with my wife Sheila, and as I was going to the Darwin Cup to run St Clair on the first Monday of August, I decided to fly a little further up north to have a look around after the Cup.
He continued, “The place looked great, I had to think about it, but in the end, I went for it. Things got off to a slow start, though. I had only 25 horses in my first full season and 16 winners. I was told my occupancy rate was too low. I actually had six new horses, but I didn't want to run them, as it would not have much impact halfway through the season against the likes of Charles Leck or Malcolm Thwaites. So, I raced them the next year, had another eight in February and by May and June, I had 100 horses! I had to send some to Bukit Timah.
“I've been lucky to have very good owners throughout these 17 years, and rest assured I am working with the Singapore Turf Club and other trainers to make sure they have good alternatives for their horses.”
Laxon, 71, has seen his trainees win each of Singapore's feature races, bar the now-discontinued Singapore Airlines International Cup and KrisFlyer Sprint and conditioned no fewer than five horses of the year, including Stepitup (Aus) (Hussonet) as recently as 2015. He became the first to bring up a century of winners in Singapore in 2004 and was the first trainer to ring up 1000 races at Kranji.
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