Sheila Laxon was the first female thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 horse trainer

Horse trainer

In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

 to win the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n cups double, the Caulfield Cup

Caulfield Cup

The Caulfield Cup, one of Australia's richest Thoroughbred horse races and the richest of its type in the world is held annually by the Melbourne Racing Club. The race is a handicap like the Melbourne Cup, which means that horses that compete in the Caulfield Cup are capable of running on the...

 and Melbourne Cup

Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...

, with her mare Ethereal

Ethereal (horse)

Ethereal is a New Zealand Thoroughbred mare who was a very successful racehorse. She was owned and bred by brothers, Peter and Phillip Vela who own Pencarrow Stud and New Zealand Bloodstock. Ethereal was sired by the 1989 U.S. Champion 2-Yr-Old Colt and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, Rhythm . Her...

 in 2001. Her efforts were recognised when she took out the Fred Hoysted Award for the Australian season's outstanding training performance.

Sheila was born in Pontypriddand her early childhood was spent on a small farm in Wales, run by her mother. Her father was away from home much of the time working as a ship's pilot. It was on the farm that Sheila developed a passion for horses through pony clubs, gymkana's and showjumping.

Before emigrating to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 around 1980, she spent time working with English trainer John L. Dunlop

John L. Dunlop

John L. Dunlop is a successful race horse trainer based in Arundel, Sussex, with over 3000 winners between 1966 and 2002.He was the British flat racing Champion Trainer in 1995....

 at his stables in Arundel

Arundel

Arundel is a market town and civil parish in the South Downs of West Sussex in the south of England. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Worthing east southeast, Littlehampton to the south and Bognor Regis to...

, Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

.

In New Zealand in 1983 she married trainer Laurie Laxon who had a large stable with many successful horses. She rode many of them in trackwork, including Empire Rose

Empire Rose

Empire Rose was one of the most popular Thoroughbred mares to race in New Zealand and Australia. She was a gigantic chestnut, only just fitting into the barrier stalls in Melbourne....

  who won the 1988 Melbourne Cup. She took out her own training license in 1990.

Sheila is still currently training in a partnership with John Symons at Whiteheads Creek in country Victoria.