It’s been 20 years since Sheila Laxon became the first female trainer to win Australia’s most celebrated horse race, but the moment is savoured for a lifetime.
As the 2021 edition of the great race beckons, the Aroona resident has reflected on the day her world turned upside down.
It was on November 6, 2001, when she cheered Ethereal to the finish line in the famed 3200m race at Flemington.
With jockey Scott Seamer aboard, the four-year-old mare surged down the straight to overcome overseas raider Give The Slip in a thrilling finish.
“I was very, very lucky,” Sheila said.
“I was lucky to get a horse that was capable of winning, and I was lucky that everything went according to plan.”
Ethereal won the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double that year – the last horse to do so.
“She was one out of the box.
“I always thought she had a lot of ability, even though she didn’t win a race in her first seven runs.”
Ethereal found her stride when Seamer became the jockey, and they won four Group 1 races and more than $5 million during her next 14 outings.
But Sheila admitted to having low expectations on Cup Day.
“It’s such a major race and she had never been over the distance before, and then it rained, and she hadn’t actually raced on a wet track before,” she said.
“So, I went into the race feeling not very positive at all.
“There were just too many things that could go against her.”
Seamer walked the track three times during the week leading up to the meet and then again on the morning of the race, deciding he would ride Ethereal three-wide.
“The track was a bit more elevated there and he judged it would be the firmest part of the track,” Sheila said.
Sky Heights went into the race as the favourite, while Ethereal, No.13, was at odds of 9-1, with 52kg.
She jumped from barrier 13, amid 22 runners, and settled midfield.
Give The Slip, from powerhouse overseas stable Godolphin, gained an enormous lead in front of 92,000 spectators, and looked to have the race won within 300m to go.
But Ethereal produced a stunning burst of speed down the straight to beat Give The Slip by three-quarters of a length, with Persian Punch a distant third.
“Scott was sitting there, cuddling her for most of the race, just letting her travel under her own steam,” Sheila said.
“They always say ‘don’t go before the clock tower’ (about 200m from the finish), and Scott waited patiently until nearly the tower, and then she just changed gear and went ‘whoosh’.
“When she came past us, I thought ‘you amazing creature’.
“She had the most amazing sprint and I assumed she was going to win.
“He (Scott) timed his run to perfection and just got there.”
Sheila recalled the pure joy of winning the Cup, and she has relished the moment ever since.
“It was amazing,” she said.
“We realised afterwards what an incredible feat it was.”
The winning connections claimed more than $2.4 million prize-money, while Sheila became the first female trainer to win the race since it was first held in 1861. Gai Waterhouse became the second female trainer to win, in 2013.
Sheila was born in England and moved to New Zealand, where she was a rider and then a trainer, who made successful forays to Australian race meetings.
She utilised Macedon Lodge, north of Melbourne, as the perfect training venue for Ethereal, before relocating to Victoria in 2002.
“It was ideal for her there, because she wasn’t a traditional racehorse.
“The hill there was mind-blowing and it got her so fit and so conditioned that she managed the 3200m easily.
“That (training) had a huge amount to do with it.”
The Melbourne Cup is now an $8 million event, renowned around the world.
“The fantastic thing about this race is that it’s a handicap.
“Most of the top races are weight-for-age, with allocated weights according to sex and age, but in this race, weights are allocated according to what the horse has done before.
“So, if you’re clever you can get a horse into the race with a light weight.
“And because it’s a handicap race over that distance (3200m), it’s fairly unusual and the money is fantastic, so people come from all of the world for the world’s richest turf race.”
Sheila said her victory had a lasting impact.
“It changed my life completely.”
“And it rolls on … even now, 20 years later, I get phone calls about it and do some film about it. People want to know about it.
“They rightly name the Melbourne Cup the People’s Cup because it’s so integrated into all of our society.
“Everybody in Australia can tell you something about it.”
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Ethereal was retired in 2002, to serve as a broodmare at Pencarrow Stud in New Zealand, where she remains today.
Sheila and her partner John Symons now train a selection of horses at Corbould Park, after moving to the Sunshine Coast in 2017.
“It’s a great lifestyle here with the weather and the people are so happy, which is not surprising because you can really enjoy the outdoors,” she said.
“It’s a great place to live.
“We’ve got some beautiful 2-year-olds, which are really coming along nicely, and they are pretty exciting,” she said.
“It’s always exciting to have young horses coming through which haven’t really been tested yet, but you know they’ve got the ammunition to do well.”
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She had high praise for the Caloundra venue.
“It would be the best track I’ve ever been to,” she said.
“It’s sensational. It was designed with a first-class eye about what’s required.
“When you sit in the stands you can see the whole track, and it’s beautifully landscaped and it’s a big track with a kikuya grass surface.
“That’s why it can withstand so much racing, because it has that dense grass.
“And the stables are beautiful, so the horses are happy,”
One of their older runners, Irish Ace, claimed a strong recent win at the venue, and Sheila expected one or more of their horses would be in action there during a meeting on Melbourne Cup Day.
The Sunshine Coast Turf Club will host its annual Melbourne Cup Day meeting on November 2. More details here.
How to watch the big race
The Melbourne Cup will be run at Flemington Racecourse at 2pm, Queensland time, on Tuesday.
The event will be broadcast on multiple television networks.
Channel Ten (including 10Play) and Racing.com have the rights to broadcast the race.
