KNIGHT'S CHOICE DOES QUEENSLAND PROUD ... AGAIN!

By Graham Potter | Monday, September 1, 2025

While the all-conquering Via Sistina duly added yet another honour to her name by taking out the Australian Racehorse of the Year title, the connections of the John Symons and Shela Laxon trained Knight’s Choice, Queensland’s first Melbourne Cup winner, had plenty of reason to celebrate with the son of Extreme Choice taking out the Champion Stayer Of The Year title at the Australian Racehorse of the Year awards for the 2024/25 racing season.

Knight’s Choice came home at a starting price of $91 in the Cup with punters seemingly paying little attention to jockey Robbie Dolan’s pre-race warning which came when he gave HRO his assessment of Knight’s Choice’s chances two days out from the Cup stating, “He is not just going to make up the numbers. He’ll run a cheeky race. I think he is right in the race.”

Read that story here ROBBIE DOLAN ALL SET FOR THE CUP

Nor did punters seem to set much store by the unwavering strength of conviction of the connections of Knight’s Choice which saw the owners turn down an offer of over $2 million for Knight’s Choice after he saluted in the Winx Guineas back in July 2023.

“They are not going to (sell). They want to stay part of the ride. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself, but you have to start thinking about top of the ladder races,” Laxon told HRO at the time.

Read that story here KNIGHT'S CHOICE'S VALUES SOARS AFTER GUINEAS WIN

The rest, as they say, is history … this time in true historical terms … and what a ride it has been!

Queensland’s first Melbourne Cup winner, superbly prepared by the Symons / Laxon training partnership, arrived under an inch perfect ride by Robbie Dolan to ward off the Japanese raider Warp Speed by the narrowest of margins … and Knight’s Choice has now raced on the claim the coveted Stayer Of The Year award.

It was a great reward for a plan well-set.

The team would have picked up another award had there been one for the best training performance of the season … but there was no such an award. They would have been a shoe-in.

Maybe there should be one in the future. It would bring a more inclusive scenario into play where the result is not based on numbers alone.

It might get people talking and you could you would imagine there would possibly even see a controversial call or two made along the way … but spicing things up a little might not be a bad thing.

Just a thought.

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