Murray Baker had huge impact as a trainer
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.
