scooby3051 6,917 Report post Posted April 28 No doubt one of our very best....enjoy your retirement you have definitely earned it..... Murray Baker retires from training at the end of April. Photo: Trish Dunell Murray Baker had huge impact as a trainer Tim Barton for LOVERACING.NZ 28 April 2022 Murray Baker has been the king of the classics. The Cambridge horseman, who retires from training at the end of April, has won 26 Group I three-year-old races and his honour roll includes nine Derbies and five Oaks victories. There have also been four wins apiece in the NZ Two Thousand Guineas and Levin Classic and a NZ St Leger victory when the race had Group I status. Four of Baker’s fillies have topped the NZB Filly of the Year series and the stable has won almost 30 individual races in the fillies series but, oddly, never the One Thousand Guineas. Baker’s first win as a trainer attracted little attention – a non-tote maiden at Otaki with Vizier in October 1978 - but his first black-type win came in the same season, when three-year-old Vizier beat Uncle Remus in the Jackson Stakes at Whanganui. There have been another 269 stakes wins since, in a career which has earned Baker a place in the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame and ensured he would be ranked among the top echelon of New Zealand trainers. He has been spectacularly successful in Australia, and - since the introduction of the Group system, in the late 1970s - has won more Group I races in Australia than any other New Zealand-based trainer. His standout achievement has been his five Australian Derby winners, an extraordinary feat for a New Zealand-based trainer, putting Baker in truly elite company. The blue riband Australian Derby has been run in Sydney since 1861 but only three trainers have won the race more than four times, the two others being the Australian training titans Tommy Smith and Bart Cummings. Smith - who dominated Sydney racing for more than three decades – is well ahead of the pack with nine wins, with Baker and Cummings on five. Baker has also had two seconds in the Australian Derby and his 22 Group I victories in Australia also include the Victoria Derby, Australian Oaks, and South Australian Oaks. Dundeel won four Group I races in Australia in his three-year-old campaign and the Group II Tulloch Stakes in Sydney has fallen to a Baker three-year-old five times. The elite wins across the Tasman by his older horses include the Caulfield, Sydney and Brisbane Cups and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Sydney, along with four wins in the Group I Underwood Stakes at the Melbourne spring carnival. Baker has had nine Melbourne Cup runners, with six finishing in the top five but a win proved elusive. The Phantom was luckless when fourth in 1989 and was runner-up the following year, behind Kingston Rule, who still holds the race record time. In all, Baker has won 48 black-type races in Australia and around 60 overall. A key factor in Baker’s Australian record has been his ability to recognise horses with the potential to succeed across the Tasman and then back his judgement. He was happy to go to Australia when the horses were still on their way up, rather than waiting till they showed something like their best form, in order to justify the trip. Though Baker is best known for his success with three-year-olds and stayers, he has also made a mark with juveniles and his winning catalogue includes the Karaka Million at Ellerslie and multiple wins in the two Group I races for two-year-olds in New Zealand. His last Group I win came with the two-year-old filly Lickety Split, in the Sistema Stakes at Ellerslie in March. Baker, who turned 76 on April 21, spent his first 22 years as a trainer in the central districts, mostly at Woodville, which was then a thriving training centre. However, he joined the drift north, to Cambridge, in 2000 and the last 20 years of his career proved to be his best. He also took on two talented training partners, first son Bjorn, who is now a leading trainer in Sydney, and then Andrew Forsman, who will be in sole charge from May 1. The Baker-Forsman partnership began in the 2012-13 season and has been a spectacular force. There were four national premierships in the space of five seasons, with the stable setting new marks in terms of wins, stake earnings and feature wins The 10-year partnership produced more than 865 wins and 156 black-type victories. First winner: Vizier - October 4, 1978, at Otaki NZ winners: 1817 (as at April 27, 2022) Australian winners: approximately 60 NZ Trainer of the Year awards: 5 NZ training premierships: 4 NZ Horse of the Year: 5 in succession – Dundeel, Mongolian Khan (2), Bonneval (2) Stakes and Group wins: 270 (NZ 222, Australia 48) Group I wins: 57 (NZ 35, Australia 22) Group II wins: 58 (NZ 45, Australia 13) Group III wins: 70 (NZ 63, Australia 7) Listed wins: 85 (NZ 79, Australia 6) NEW ZEALAND GROUP I WINS 1985 Sir Vigilant NZ St Leger 1990 Miss Stanima Auckland Cup 1990 Eagle Eye Bayer (Levin) Classic 1991 Let’s Sgor NZ Oaks 1991 Let’s Sgor Great Northern Champion Stakes 1992 Staring NZ Oaks 1993 Staring Zabeel Classic 2002 Emerald Dream Waikato International (Herbie Dyke) 2002 Prized Gem Kelt (Livamol) Stakes 2004 Ambitious Owner Levin Classic 2008 Fully Fledged Diamond Stakes (Ellerslie Sires’ Produce) 2009 The Heckler Manawatu Sires’ Produce 2010 We Can Say It Now Levin Classic 2010 We Can Say It Now Captain Cook Stakes 2013 Atlante NZ 2000 Guineas 2014 Turn Me Loose NZ 2000 Guineas 2015 Mongolian Khan NZ Derby 2015 Dal Cielo Diamond Stakes (Ellerslie Sires’ Produce) 2015 Sakhee’s Soldier Bonecrusher NZ Stakes 2015 Diademe NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes 2016 Luna Rossa Manawatu Sires’ Produce 2017 Lizzie L’Amour Bonecrusher NZ Stakes 2017 Bonneval NZ Oaks 2017 Charmont NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes 2018 Stolen Dance Thorndon Mile 2018 Lizzie L’Amour Waikato International (Herbie Dyke) Stakes 2018 Vin De Dance NZ Derby 2018 Saint Emilion Bonecrusher NZ Stakes 2018 Madison County NZ 2000 Guineas 2019 Madison County Levin Classic 2019 Nicoletta NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes 2019 True Enough Zabeel Classic 2020 Aegon NZ 2000 Guineas 2022 The Chosen One Thorndon Mile 2022 Lickety Split Sistema (Ellerslie Sires’ Produce) Stakes AUSTRALIAN GROUP I WINS 1990 The Phantom Underwood Stakes 1992 Eagle Eye Ranvet Stakes 1992 Eagle Eye Sydney Cup 2002 Prized Gem ` Brisbane Cup 2004 Dowry South Australian Oaks 2008 Nom Du Jeu Australian (AJC) Derby 2010 Lion Tamer Victoria Derby 2011 Lion Tamer Underwood Stakes 2012 Dundeel Spring Champion Stakes 2013 Dundeel Randwick Guineas 2013 Dundeel Rosehill Guineas 2013 Dundeel Australian Derby 2013 Dundeel Underwood Stakes 2014 Dundeel Queen Elizabeth Stakes 2015 Mongolian Khan Australian Derby 2015 Mongolian Khan Caulfield Cup 2015 Turn Me Loose Emirates Stakes 2016 Turn Me Loose Futurity Stakes 2017 Bonneval AJC Oaks 2017 Bonneval Underwood Stakes 2017 Jon Snow Australian Derby 2020 Quick Thinker Australian Derby GROUP II IN AUSTRALIA 1987 Palliser Tulloch Stakes 1990 The Phantom Memsie Stakes 1993 The Bill Tulloch Stakes 2002 Prized Gem Prime Minister’s Cup 2009 Harris Tweed Tulloch Stakes 2015 Turn Me Loose Crystal Mile 2016 Saracino Danehill Stakes 2017 Jon Snow Tulloch Stakes 2017 Bonneval Feehan Stakes 2019 Quick Thinker Tulloch Stakes 2019 The Chosen One Herbert Power 2021 Quick Thinker Chairman’s Handicap 2021 Hobartville Stakes Aegon GROUP III IN AUSTRALIA 1991 Pontiac Lass Colin Stephen Handicap 2012 Dundeel Gloaming Stakes 2013 Usainity Packer Plate 2016 Eleonora Ethereal Stakes 2017 Jon Snow JRA Cup 2019 Quick Thinker Ming Dynasty Handicap 2019 The Chosen One Packer Plate LISTED IN AUSTRALIA 1991 Steineck Jupiter Casino Stakes (Caulfield) 2010 Lion Tamer Ming Dynasty Handicap 2010 Harris Tweed Bart Cummings 2015 Turn Me Loose Seymour Cup 2017 Weather With You Geelong Classic 2019 Long Jack Geelong Classic AUSTRALIAN GROUP I PLACINGS SECOND 1989 The Phantom South Australian Derby 1990 The Phantom Melbourne Cup 1991 Eagle Eye Australian Guineas 1992 Eagle Eye Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Sydney) 2008 Nom Du Jeu Queen Elizabeth Stakes 2008 Nom Du Jeu Caulfield Cup 2009 Harris Tweed Australian Derby 2010 Harris Tweed Caulfield Cup 2017 Turn Me Loose Orr Stakes 2019 Madison County Australian Derby 2020 The Chosen One Sydney Cup THIRD 1989 The Phantom Caulfield Cup 1989 The Phantom Underwood Stakes 2010 Harris Tweed Sydney Cup 2018 Eleonora Australian Oaks MELBOURNE CUP RUNNERS 1989 The Phantom 4th 1990 The Phantom 2nd 1991 Pontiac Lass 21st 2008 Nom Du Jeu 8th 2009 Harris Tweed 5th 2010 Harris Tweed 5th 2019 The Chosen One 17th 2020 The Chosen One 4th 2021 The Chosen One 5th GROUP RACE WINNING HORSES 7 wins: Dundeel (six Grp 1). 6 wins: Bonneval (3 Grp 1), Staring (2 Grp 1). 5 wins: Mongolian Khan (3 Grp I), Turn Me Loose (3 Grp 1). FAVOURITE GROUP RACES 5 wins: Grp I Australian Derby, Group II Tulloch Stakes (Sydney), Grp II Cal Isuzu Stakes (Te Rapa), Grp III Gold Trail Stakes. 4 wins: Grp I Underwood Stakes (Melbourne), Grp I NZ Two Thousand Guineas, Grp I Levin Classic, Grp II Wellington Guineas, Sir Tristram Classic, Eulogy Stakes. Baz (NZ), Dissident, TurnyTom and 6 others 2 7 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bloke 1,144 Report post Posted April 29 I used to back the "old firm" Baker & Harris. My best collect was Sir Vigilant when he won The St Ledger and paid over $80 to win. JJ Flash 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JJ Flash 1,308 Report post Posted April 29 Top bloke who deserves all the accolades he recieved tasman man and Dissident 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
