The 2024 Melbourne Cup winner Knight’s Choice will be looking to put in a suitably progressive performance in the Herbert Power Stakes over 2400m at Caulfield on Saturday, as he looks to rebuild his profile after a series of setbacks saw him drop completely off the radar.
The last two years could not have been more frustrating for co-trainers John Symons and Sheila Laxon with regard to the unwelcome circumstances which both curtailed and compromised the progress of their 2024 Melbourne Cup winner … but the son of Extreme Choice is now finally back on track and is heading into a new Spring Carnival with his prospects having a more positive outlook than it has had for some time.
2025 was a year to forget for Knight’s Choice who suffered a variety of setbacks, a series of unfortunate events which ultimately all combined to undermine the preparation of his Melbourne Cup title defence for some time … a fetlock injury early in the year and constant heavy tracks during mid-year … before another cruel blow, when forced into mandatory quarantine after an outbreak of strangles in the stables where he was lodged, took him out of 2025 Melbourne Cup contention all together.
That left Knight’s Choice out in the wilderness, only able to put one run behind his name in all of the eighteen months that followed his Cup triumph.
Since May this year though, Knight’s Choice has been putting some race fitness back into his legs and, although he hasn’t placed in any of his five starts in 2026 … three of which were either of soft or heavy going and two of which were over distances well short of his best … at least he has been moving towards something this year … instead of being stuck in the quicksand of 2025 … as he has moved forward while testing himself against the likes of Pride Of Jenni, Birdman, Royal Supremacy and, not least, Half Yours, the horse who took away Knight’s Choice’s Melbourne Cup crown in 2025.
Of course, Knight’s Choice will have to show more if he is to go close to regaining his glory days and his performance in the Herbert Power Stakes on Saturday will give a pretty fair indication of just where Knight’s Choice’s prowess stands at this time.
Blake Shinn, for one, has given the now seven-year-old his vote of confidence, staying aboard the Symons / Laxon trained runner after partnering Knight’s Choice in the gelding’s last start, in which he finished unplaced, but only 2.43 lengths back in the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes over 2000m. He should prefer the extra 400m he gets on Saturday.
It’s been a long road back for Knight’s Choice and he could still have some way to go to once again be a big player, but he is a Melbourne Cup winner after-all … even if that win arrived at punter numbing odds of $91 … so it is perhaps best to beware because he has punished the non-believers once before.
