Have Horse Will Travel Mantra Is Focus Of Baker's Stable

An Ignited Passion

With no family in racing or even in the horse industry, it was being a fan of the sport that ignited his passion.

"I was a racing fan growing up.

"I grew up as a racing fan, attending those meetings, mainly with my mother, who was very keen on the sport. "My father quite rightly thought that racing was an enormous irrelevance, so he didn't get involved," he grins.

"But my mother took me racing from a very young age, and it was around here locally." It was flat racing at Goodwood and jump racing, and there was a little country track called Fontwell down the road, and Sandown, Kenton, Ascot, and Newbury—all the southern tracks you know.

"My passion for horses started as a fan. A long time before I ever considered the mad option of becoming a racehorse trainer, I was a racing fan." I am a sports fan. "I love most sports, and racing is very near the top of the list."

Reflecting on his career to date and his journey along the way, Baker is very blunt, which matches his upbeat, jovial personality.

"If you came to me 15 or 16 years ago and said I’d be sitting here with sixty-odd racehorses in a yard out there and runners in Bahrain and all over the world, I would have said you were mad to come up with that scenario."

"But it’s a great and fun scenario to be involved in, and we’re very lucky."

The journey to now has been fun and great, as Baker suggests, and has seen him go from a career in the financial world in London, where he worked for a bank that went bust in the mid-1990s, to living in Vietnam and returning to the UK, where he would get involved in the horse industry, which he has always had a great passion for.

Making Way for Greatness

"Well, there were a couple of catalysts along the way.

"When I came back to the UK, I got a job with a guy named Paul Webber, who trades National Hunt horses up in the Midlands. I then got a job as a racing journalist, which, to be honest, was the height of my aspirations.

"I love writing and I love following the sport, and to be able to go racing and mix and mingle with my heroes was a privilege." Then that newspaper folded as it was trying to take on The Racing Post, and it didn’t work out, and a couple of people said to me, "Well, you can't be an assistant trainer for the rest of your life, so you better go and do your own thing."

That was the ignition lit for the start of Baker’s career as head trainer, starting small.

"It started with two horses, one hoof pick, and a very silly dream on a farm in Warwickshire, and look at the mess we have gotten ourselves into."

"But it was and has been a fantastic journey, but a journey that, as I say, 20 years ago would have been completely unrealistic and even 15 years ago would have seemed bonkers.

But listen, we love it! "It's hard work, and there are plenty of days when you question yourself for doing it, but then the good days come along, and you remember how amazing this sport is and what a privilege it is to be a trainer and to be part of it all. "

Mega Stables is being challenged.

Crazy dream or not, it has now seen him have runners all over the world; for example, this year he has starters in Bahrain, Newmarket, and Nashville, with over 400 winners.

"Five hundred now." "Not that I am counting," Baker corrects me, joking but proud.

"It's very hard to compete here in the UK, particularly when you've got the might of Godolphin and many of the other Arab nations represented so strongly, and then you've got the Coolmore gang and the mega stables, which are very hard to take on."

"A lot of our focus has been on travelling our horses abroad, and we live by the mantra "Have horse, will travel," which means we've had winners all over the world.

"It's no easier to compete globally than it is here, but there may be opportunities away from the mainstream UK racing, which, as I said, is becoming increasingly difficult."

"You can go to an evening meeting at Wolverhampton on a February afternoon and you could bump into two Godolphin horses that are bred to win the Classics."

"We love having runners everywhere—Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, winters in Dubai, Istanbul, up the mountain in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on the frozen ice. It's just, you know, thinking laterally and outside of the box and giving yourself an opportunity to be competitive when it becomes harder and harder to be competitive here.

"We love the big festivals and the big race meetings, and we love having runners at the big race meetings, and we'll continue to target them, but the foreign raids are viable; they are great fun for owners, and if the horses go and run well as they are currently in Bahrain, it makes sense on every level."

What Qualifies a Horse for Travel?

Baker, who runs a stable with a travel-focused and internationally raced offence in mind, agrees that it takes a certain horse to travel well and is something that cannot be trained in all stablemates.

"There are some horses on the horse box who are drenched in sweat and worried about the journey by the time they arrive at the local village."So, you do need to take the right horse, and you need horses that are mentally sound, but by definition, that normally means horses who are physically sound as well as horses who get it.

"As with people, they will have little niggles that worry them, and you can manage them, but if they're bubbling under, that's obviously going to affect the horse's psyche in the same way that it does you and me.

"You get a feel for that type of horse when you take horses to foreign fields because their sound is not only of wind and limb but also of mind and strength."

"Belgian Bill, who won for us at Royal Ascot, travelled the world for us, and he loved it. When we put on his travel boots, you know, the extra-special bungee boots, he knew he was getting on the airplane, and it sounds bizarre, but he absolutely thrived on it.

"You know you would be pressing the gamble button very hard if you put a horse on an aeroplane that was mentally a little bit fragile or who was fragile in any way.So that's really what it comes down to, but you've also got to be realistic about the ability of the horses you send.

"It can be expensive to send horses abroad, although there are fabulous subsidies that many racing jurisdictions offer now, including Bahrain for the horses we've got over there. It is an expensive job, and you cannot send horses to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, or Dubai just for a day out.

"You have to be fiscally responsible, but it's a combination of factors, and it's incredibly rewarding when those factors do all come together and you see the horses running well for you on foreign fields because it is a competitive sport globally."

"You also have got to be realistic with the targets that you aim your horses at." It's pointless to put them on a plane and fly them halfway around the world to see them arrive on the 13th or 14th.You have to understand the combination of the horse’s ability, mindset, strength of character, and my belief that they are going to cope with the new regime and travel.

"The good horses are those that don't have issues or problems, and they tend to be the ones that are mentally strong as well." If all of that comes together, you also need a big dollop of luck, and hopefully, your horses stay fit and healthy and are not affected by the travel.

Next Port of Call: Riyadh

Baker now prepares 6YO Lucander for the Crown Prince’s Cup after having two starts previously in the Kingdom. His debut in the region resulted in a thumping victory by nearly six lengths, as he stated, impressing all connections, trainer included.

"He was bought in the autumn by Paul Bowden and Nigel Jones, who have been great supporters of ours for a long time. They travelled to Bahrain last year and got a feel for it, so they really wanted to be involved with a horse this year. So they bought Lucander out of Ralph Beckett's yard. He is a lovely horse with proven form who has been a bit of a solid handicapper over the years for Ralph.

"That first run for us, if I told you I expected him to win by six lengths, I'd be telling you a tiny little lie."We knew he was in good shape, had travelled well, and had been training well.

"We were very, very happy with him, but the race worked out for him." They went very quickly, and he picked up the pace, ran, and won very impressively.

"Last time he did run fifth, but it wasn't a bad run." He was a bit keen early on, and there was no pace, so he was left sort of doing a bit too much, far too soon.

"I thought he'd go close on that occasion, but it was more the way the race was run than anything else that panned out against him."

"So hopefully we've got him back in great order for The Crown Prince’s Cup, and we are also going to run another horse on the same card called Watchya." The team reports that they are both in good health and should both go well.

"The race Lucander is in is the hardest race to win in Bahrain this year." All the best local horses are there, and Godolphin is flying down Warren Point from Dubai—it's a classy performance. So look, it's a highly competitive field, but in our terms, you know, a 120,000-pound pot is not to be sniffed at, and we're delighted to be involved with a horse who seems in good order."

Best of the Bunch

Baker has three stablemates in Bahrain currently who have been performing well so far and are showing even further improvement.

"They've all been in the money." Five runs, five in the money, and good money as well. So many delighted owners at the moment, which is half the battle for me. "If I've got happy owners, then that means a happy trainer."

With the sixth-length win by Lucander, he has got himself out of the future Bahrain Turf Series races, as they are a 0-100 rating contest, and the gelding now carries a 106 rating.

"There is a race for him on the 17th after the Crown Prince Cup—a handicap for imported horses." If all is well, he will run on that occasion. There is also the option of running in the Neon Cup in Saudi Arabia at the big meeting at the end of February, in which case he’d be on the cusp of getting a run in at the moment.

"If he wanted to do something exciting in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia would be a very viable option for him, obviously just across the causeway and a short journey away."We would then look to get him back here, and he has an entry in the winter Derby at the end of February. I imagine he’d probably have a bit 

of a break until the turf season starts here in the spring.

"I would hope he would be a horse for Royal Ascot and the other big festivals like glorious Goodwood, Yorke, and beyond." When you have a horse rated 106, the programme book helps you out because the programme dictates that you go to the better race, and that’s where the owners want to be and where I want to be, so let’s see how he goes.

"I'd love to end up in Saudi, but if we don't end up in Saudi this time, maybe next year, but there are plenty of races for him both here in the UK and globally in the months ahead."

Bahrain Consideration

Baker holds Bahrain in high regard for its profile for racing and opportunities to showcase the talent his stable has to offer, having taken hopefuls out there for a long time.

"I think we started with the mantra "Horse will travel" from the beginning, mate, for the reasons I've explained that it just makes sense.It's great fun for the owners, it makes financial sense, and it's also fascinating to go and compete against some of the finest trainers in the world on their own turf.

"From a very early stage, Belgian Bill took us to Dubai and then to Istanbul, and he actually ran in the Arlington Million and wasn’t disgraced in the Arlington Million." It rained for an hour and a half before the race; it didn't rain a mile down the road. If it hadn't rained at Arlington, you know, I'm not saying he would have won, but he would have been closer than seventh.

"But yes, right from the word go, my desk here has been strewn with programme books from foreign jurisdictions just because it's a part of it.

"It's my responsibility to my owners to give them the fun of international sports but also the fiscal responsibility of having them involved in jurisdictions where they might be able to make a pound or two."

Baker currently has a stable of sixty horses, and the excitement of the potential that could grow from the base is clear to see and hear from the trainer.

"Definitely! I have got a lovely Dark Angel colt; he's actually unnamed, but he was bought in Deauville in the autumn. He has some French premiums, and the owners who bought him have basically said they want the horse to run in France, which is great! And they get it, and they get the fact that you know that there is no point running in a maiden here for four thousand pounds when you can run in France for twenty thousand pounds.

His career has taken him and his stable around the world and taught him many things, but the top lesson is easy for Baker.

The Virtues of a Trainer

"Patience is the key!" Allow your horses plenty of time and avoid being rushed by owner pressure or aspirations.The vast majority of owners will take a step back and let us do our best with their horses. Very often, people have horses and want to go racing. Sometimes it's not an easy call to ring them up and say, "Listen, I think your horse would benefit from six months in a paddock as opposed to going to the races in two weeks’ time."

"You have to stick to your beliefs because if you force horses to do something they're not capable of doing, by asking a young horse to do something it's not physically capable of doing, you're not going to have a horse long term."

"Whereas if you give that horse the time to develop physically and mentally, you give yourself and the owners the best chance of maximising the horse’s potential."