Thunder Mania to liven up lifestyle
TRAINERS John Symons and Sheila Laxon have been happily enjoying the more relaxed lifestyle on the Sunshine Coast the past few years but things might escalate this summer if Thunder Mania lives up to expectations.
The promising three-yearold resumes in the Winning Rupert Plate at Doomben on Saturday and while the 1200m is going to ultimately prove short of his best, Symons is sure the Snitzel colt will be charging at the end.
Symons and Laxon formed a training partnership in 2007 after both scaled racing’s greatest heights – Laxon most famously with Ethereal’s 2001 Caulfield-Melbourne Cups double, while Symons trained the brilliant Blue Diamond and Doomben 10,000 winner Bel Esprit, who later sired Black Caviar.
“We virtually came up here to wind down and retire,” said Symons, who was formerly based in Victoria.
“Then old Irish Constabulary came along and Denoninator (nine wins) won a heap of races as well.
“The owners got a bit keen and bought a few more horses. We have a really good team of young horses at the moment.
“We haven’t got big numbers. We are always working around 15-20 and we don’t want any more than that.
“We’re not interested in premierships, we just want some nice horses in the camp.”
Symons said Thunder Mania, who has won three of his five starts, was ticking over stylishly ahead of his threeyear-old return.
“I would be disappointed if he’s not in the finish. It just depends on how the race is run,” said Symons, who is aiming the horse at the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (1400m) on the Gold Coast next month.