Baker’s dozen aiming to get the dough on Super Saturday
Ahead of a huge Saturday which is headlined by Stefi Magnetica’s (All Too Hard) bold bid to land her third Group 1 race in the All-Star Mile (1600m), trainer Bjorn Baker teamed up with Clarke Bloodstock to replenish his stable stock with five Inglis Premier Yearling Sale fillies which may become their next racetrack stars.
The Oaklands Junction shopping spree cost the duo a combined $1.25 million – their Street Boss (Street Cry) filly from the Two Bays Farm draft topped the quintet at $340,000 – but with up to a dozen stakes runners in action across Randwick and Flemington this Saturday, Baker could conceivably recover a large chunk of that outlay in one fell swoop.
With her victories in both the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) and the Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) – not to mention the rather tidy sum of $7 million in prize-money on her CV – Stefi Magnetica has been one of the major players in Baker’s rapid rise since the New Zealand native cut training ties with his famous father Murray to go it alone.
The $140,000 Jim Clarke and Cunningham Thoroughbreds paid for Lot 256 at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale represents outstanding business, and in many ways that canny purchase has paved the way for the success Baker has since enjoyed in partnership with his trusted bloodstock agent and the Cunningham family.
After coming through her final pre-race gallop at Cranbourne on Tuesday morning in fine fettle, ‘Stefi’ will be kept ticking over ahead of her $2 million assignment on ‘Super Saturday’ at Flemington, where she will be joined by up to five stablemates including Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) contenders Caballus (I Am Invincible) and Disneck (Trapeze Artist).
In a quality renewal of the All-Star Mile which could feature nine Group 1 winners, the five-year-old mare will be partnered for the first time by Hugh Bowman who bids for a second success in the race following his 2021 victory aboard Mugatoo (Henrythenavigator).
Before embarking on his riding stint in Hong Kong, Bowman forged a fruitful association with the Baker boys with his victory in the Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) aboard Lion Tamer (Storming Home) – one of several stakes successes for the family.
Having registered two wins and a pair of placings from his six rides on Hong Kong Gold Cup Day at Sha Tin last Sunday, Baker believes Bowman should be in a confident mood ahead of the champion jockey’s return to Australia for the first time since last year’s Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m).
“It’s great to have Hughie riding Stefi on Saturday, it gives you a bit more confidence when you have a big race rider like him on one of your horses in a Group 1,” Baker told ANZ News.
“He hasn’t ridden for us for a while but we’ve had a lot of previous success together, so hopefully that can continue on Saturday. We’re really happy with how Stefi has settled in down in Melbourne. I thought her first-up run in the Apollo Stakes was pretty good and she came through it well, so it’s all systems go for Saturday.
“Autumn Glory and Aeliana were too good for her that day in the Apollo, but they’re both quality mares and we probably got a bit further back in the run than we anticipated from the outside gate. But Stefi is a big-time performer and we think three weeks between runs is probably ideal at this stage of her career.
“We always knew Autumn Glow was going to be mighty hard to beat in the Verry Elleegant Stakes, and although the All-Star Mile is by no means an easy race to win we did probably think we were a better chance in it. She’s run very well at Flemington a few times without winning, but with a bit of luck and a decent barrier draw hopefully we’re fighting out the finish this time.
“It’s more than likely that it will be a hit-and-run mission and she’ll travel back to Sydney after the All-Star Mile, but we’ll make that decision with the ownership group at the start of next week.”
In the other feature race on the program, lightweight rider Winona Costin will bid to make her elite-level breakthrough aboard Disneck but Baker has been frantically scrambling to find a replacement rider for Caballus after the five-year-old was assigned 55 kilograms in the Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m).
His intended pilot Bowman is unable to make that weight, but the ‘boy from Dunedoo’ is set to partner Pillow Fight (Zoustar) in the Kewney Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) for Baker and the Cunninghams, who like the Warwick Farm trainer will have an embarrassment of riches on display across two states.
With smart juvenile Paradoxium (Extreme Choice) and exciting filly Horseshoe Hill (All Too Hard) carrying the Cunningham colours at Randwick, in the Todman Stakes (Gr 2 1200m) and Fireball Stakes (Listed, 1100m) respectively, the family may need to divide between Melbourne and Sydney in the hope of conquering one of the great racedays on the autumn calendar.
A nasty dose of man flu will almost certainly rule Baker out from boarding a flight to Melbourne, but no doubt wife Andrea will have her camera phone trained on her husband in Sydney on Randwick Guineas Day in the hope of capturing another viral video.
“I’m feeling pretty crook at the minute so I’ll probably have to stay up here in Sydney on Saturday, but we’ve got a big team heading to Melbourne on Saturday so we’ll be watching on with great interest,” Baker told ANZ News.
“The Newmarket Handicap is always a great race and the favourite [Tentyris] will be very hard to beat if he goes there, but I do think our two are in with a chance of causing an upset. Caballus was great first-up behind Joliestar in the Expressway and he drops in the weights, so the handicap conditions should suit him.
“Disneck was the victim of a slowly run race last time in the JRA Plate, but his win two starts back down the Flemington straight in the Standish was very impressive. He won’t know himself with only 52 kilos on his back, he will probably settle in the second half of the fields as usual but with the lightweight he could be running over the top of them late on.
“Pillow Fight is rock hard fit and has been running really consistently, it’s a step up in grade for her but if we can get a black type win or even a placing on her page, that would be a great result for connections. It’s going to be a big day for the Cunningham family, hopefully we can get at least one win on the board for them so that they can celebrate on Saturday night.”
The extent of the Cunninghams’ celebrations will largely depend on Stefi’s ability to overcome her fellow Group 1 heroines Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) and Treasurethemoment (Alabama Express), and Baker believes the latter mare may prove the hardest to beat in the All-Star Mile.
Indeed, the early success her Yulong-based sire has enjoyed with the fairer sex was one of the reasons why the Warwick Farm horseman partnered with Clarke at the Premier Sale to purchase Lot 371, the fourth foal produced by the Savabeel (Zabeel) mare Storytime. Illness prevented Baker from making it to the sale, so delegated duties to Clarke and the respected judge certainly liked what he saw with this filly.
“Alabama Express is going particularly well and to me this filly had the looks of a classic type,” Clarke told ANZ News.
“She has the build of a mile or mile and a quarter filly, there’s a bit of stamina on her page and it’s a family I know well after I bought Quintessa out of it. Savabeel is doing really well as a broodmare sire, so she stood out to us with a nice middle distance profile. We haven’t bought many fillies like her this sales season, so I’m pleased we were able to add her to our arsenal in that division.”
The pair also came home with two fillies by Darley’s established sire Street Boss, and the strategy to target his progeny was in part influenced by the tremendous success Baker has enjoyed ever since his powerful son Pericles entered the stables.
Pericles surged home in the Futurity Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Caulfield last month to enhance his record to two stakes wins and a pair of Group 1 placings from his five starts for Baker, who is now an ardent admirer of the stallion.
Lots 246 and 436 came at a combined cost of $600,000 but, given the current trajectory their father is currently on, Clarke is confident both fillies will more than justify their price tags in time.
“Street Boss is flying with arguably Australia’s two best sprinters Tentyris and Tempted, but Bjorn probably has a new-found appreciation for the stallion after what Pericles has been able to do,” said Clarke.
“Street Boss is getting it done across a wide range of distances and ages, and with both his colts and fillies. So he’s the complete package and we were really keen to buy some of his stock.
“The Two Bays filly we bought comes from a very good farm, and the dam is the half-sister to Lady Laguna so she’s got a lovely pedigree to match. She caught our eye early on and paraded well each time we got her out. The other Street Boss filly from Mill Park also comes from a very good nursery, so we were keen to get her and I’m very glad that we did.”