Singapore Celebrates Six-Time Champion Trainer Laurie Laxon

Expatriate New Zealander Laurie Laxon has stamped his authority on the Singapore racing scene with six Champion Trainer titles in his ten-year tenure at the Kranji racecourse.

Recognising his remarkable achievement, the New Zealand High Commissioner to Singapore, Mr Martin Harvey, New Zealand Bloodstock Ltd and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise are set to host a private reception in his honour on Tuesday 16 March.

"It's an honour to be recognised in this way in Singapore and I'm proud to be flying the flag for New Zealand in the region," remarked Laxon.

"I have loved my ten years in Singapore so far and am grateful to the support of my owners and friends here and at the Singapore Turf Club who have been a part of the success.

"I hope I can continue to train many more winners for many years to come."

Laurie Laxon's dominance of the Singapore's training ranks follows a long and successful career in the thoroughbred industry in New Zealand.

As a fourth generation horse trainer his achievements in over 35 years of training put him amongst the most successful trainers to ever to come out of New Zealand.

Starting as an amateur rider, then horse-breaker, he took up his trainer's licence at 26 years old. From his Ngaruawahia property Laxon trained for five years before moving his operation to the Cambridge racetrack, in the heart of New Zealand thoroughbred country. His first major winner there was Silver Wraith who won the Easter Handicap as a three-year-old, and signaled the start of a wealth of success over the coming years.

In 1986 Laxon moved his operation to a purpose-built training farm and he started to make a mark on the local scene. Soon he started crossing the Tasman with regular incursions in Australian feature races and in just over a decade he trained the likes of Group 1 Melbourne Cup winner Empire Rose, Group 1 Hong Kong Cup winner Romanee Conti, Group 1 NZ Derby winner Cavalleri, and Group 1 LKS Mackinnon Stakes winner and Group 1 Melbourne Cup place-getter Champagne.

Looking for a new challenge, in 2000 Laxon took up training at the Kranji racetrack in Singapore where he has trained for the past ten years. In his first few years his training skills saw him finish second (twice) and third in the Singapore Trainer's premiership before his dominance became clear and he secured six straight Singapore Champion Trainer's titles from 2004-2009.

His premiership wins saw him in 2004 become the first trainer ever to win 100 races in Singapore, and in 2007 he bettered his previous record when he trained 104 winners making him the first trainer in Singapore history to train over 100 winners in a season. In total Laxon has won nearly 800 races on the Kranji racetrack alone, a milestone he expects to reach by May this year.

Throughout his tremendous achievements Laxon has remained faithful to his New Zealand heritage and puts his success down to the New Zealand-bred thoroughbred product. A regular visitor to the Karaka auction sales in New Zealand, Laxon sources horses for his Singapore stable exclusively from his home land, proving to be a winning formula.

As the trainer of five horses who have won the Singapore Horse of the Year title, Laxon has been associated with such top performers as WHY BE, SADDLE UP, ROYAL CAPTAIN, BIG EASY, BIG MAVERICK, RECAST, RAUL, TOP SPIN and BETTER THAN EVER to name a few.

All media enquiries to Mike Kneebone, Director New Zealand Bloodstock Asia, mike.kneebone@nzb.co.nz.