Melbourne Cup winning trainers John Symons and Sheila Laxon can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.
The training partners have endured a tough 12 months with Knight’s Choice who has raced just four times since his 2024 Melbourne Cup victory.
Firstly, a bout of strangles ruled the Cup winner out of defending his title last year while wet tracks in Queensland during the winter dampened any hopes of Knight’s Choice returning to winning form.
After some fine weather in Melbourne over the past few days, Knight’s Choice was able to show a glimpse of his best form, winning a jump-out at Caulfield Heath on Wednesday morning.
It prompted Symons to declare ‘I don’t think I’ve seen him trial better than that’.
“We couldn’t be happier with where he is at,” Symons said.
“He’s had a mixed way of life since he won the Cup.
“He’s always had the ability to do it, (but he’s a) wet track duffer, (but) dry track, like today, you see what he can do.”
Symons said jockey Dylan Dunn reported Knight’s Choice could have put the opposition away more easily than what he did.
Knight’s Choice will need to qualify to contest the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups this year having missed last year’s spring.
“Three months we were locked up for,” Symons said.
“We couldn’t do anything with him, and he actually got strangles and was the last horse to get a clearance and he didn’t get cleared until December.
“He’s back now, on all cylinders. We were happy with him up in Queensland, but it just kept on raining.
“His work was compromised up there, but the good thing is he’s had that time away in the sun.
“I don’t think I’ve seen him trial better than that. Dylan said he could have put them away easily, so I’m pretty happy with where we’ve got him.
“I wouldn’t expect too much from his first couple of runs, but after that I would expect to see what he can do.”
Symons said he and Laxon would head home and map out a program.
“We’ll look for a mile race, wherever that may be, but it’s probably got to be a quality handicap or a weight-for-age race,” Symons said.
“We’ve entered him for the Caulfield Cup, and we’ll probably look to take a similar path as the one we took in the year he won the Melbourne Cup.”
