Family and friends will gather to celebrate the life of New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame trainer Laurie Laxon on Thursday.

The Melbourne Cup-winning trainer passed away last July, however, due to COVID-19 restrictions there has been no opportunity to mark his passing appropriately until now.

The commemoration at 2pm on Thursday May 19 will take place fittingly at Takapoto Estate, 90 Finlay Rd, Karapiro, adjacent to the unique training grounds established by Laxon in the late 1980s.

Laxon’s career began from stables on the banks of the Waikato River at Ngaruawahia, and he gained further fame from his property at Karapiro, likewise bordering New Zealand’s longest waterway.

He went on to dominate Singapore training ranks with nine premierships as well as being the first to achieve 100 wins in a season. He remains the only trainer to prepare more than 1,000 winners on the Kranji track.