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Sheila Laxon will be represented by her first runner in New Zealand for a decade when Rock Harmony makes her debut at Te Teko on Wednesday.
The Melbourne Cup-winning trainer returned home after Christmas and is operating out of the Maungatautari property that was the base from which her star mare Ethereal dominated Australasia’s feature staying events.
Laxon has a small team in work for Sir Peter Vela and it will be his colours that will be donned by rider Trudy Thornton at Te Teko when Rock Harmony begins her career in the J Swaps Contractors Ltd 2YO.
The Road To Rock filly is a grand-daughter of the Group Three winner Anatomy and the international family of the Japan Cup winner Marvelous Crown.
Amun Ra is another first-starter and he has been a regular at the trials with three appearances for a pair of seconds and a win at Waipa in April. The Ustinov colt is highly-regarded by trainer Lee Somervell and Matt Cameron takes the ride.
Sherpa has had the benefit of two raceday outings and has showed improvement with each run. He was a game fifth last time out at Te Rapa behind the dual winner Buffalo Boy.
Minginui has been a trial winner for Ralph Manning, who has a strong team at the meeting with last-start winners Nancylee (race four) and Alphabet Street (race five) among them.
The Cambridge trainer also has a good winning prospect in The Likely One (race six), who was narrowly beaten when he resumed last month. He has an awkward gate to overcome, but he did show good gate speed to lead last time out and can go one better with some early luck.