Racing: Last chance at Derby glory for New Zealand trainer Murray Baker

Champion trainer Murray Baker will retire at the end of April. Photo / Trish Dunell

New Zealand training legend Murray Baker will watch his last crack at Derby glory from afar, but will also be trying to add to his extraordinary Group 1 record closer to home.

Baker retires from training on May 1 and has three more shots at Group 1 glory, two of them today when Lickety Split contests the $245,000 Sires' Produce at Awapuni a few hours before training partner Andrew Forsman saddles Regal Lion and White Noise in the A$2 million ATC Derby at Randwick in Sydney.

While Baker has trained all sorts of horses to win a vast array of Group 1s in his storied career it is Derbys he is most famous for, having win five ATC Derbys, two New Zealand Derbys and the Victoria Derby.

With Regal Lion booming into second in the Tulloch Stakes on Monday he is now second-favourite for today's classic likely to be run on a heavy track, and he gets the huge bonus of James McDonald in the saddle for the first time.

"Winning any Derby is a big deal," says Baker.

"And I think we have two good chances, with Regal Lion really stepping up on Monday so if he backs up he has to be a chance.

"He is a real Derby horse, an out and out stayer, and I think he has come to it at the right time.

"How he will handle a really wet track I don't know but it is great to get James back on so we have a hope."

Baker will travel to Awapuni with Lickety Split and says he will find somewhere in Manawatū to watch the Derby before returning home.

Rather than get emotional about the end of a great career Baker says there is work to be done.

"I think this filly [Lickety Split] is pretty good but she meets a good field so her race won't be easy,

"I am not too worried about her wide draw though, it is a good run from the 1400m at Awapuni so she will get her chance."

The Group 1 phase of Baker's career will come to an end when The Chosen One contests the Sydney Cup next Saturday, with the stable unlikely to have a runner in the last Group 1 of the New Zealand season, the NZ Breeders Stakes on April 16.

"But I'd settle for any one of the three Group 1s we have left, Group 1s are hard to win."

Today's Awapuni meeting may be the end of Baker's domestic Group 1 career but it is the start of the new Te Akau era, with Mark Walker resuming as head trainer there as Jamie Richards has left the business and will move to Hong Kong next month.

Walker, with Dynastic and Maven Belle, provides the two of the favourites for today's Sires' Produce, with local filly Wolverine the other major player with tempo. Whether the track cops any rain will be crucial factors but Maven Belle is the best bet of the quartet.

While New Zealand has one of its smallest representations on the first day of The Championships in Sydney there will be Kiwi interest in the A$2.5million TJ Smith Stakes, featuring giant-killer mare Roch 'N' Horse.

She stunned the Australians winning the Newmarket at Flemington last start but steps up to an even tougher sprint today against Nature Strip, Eduardo and Masked Crusader, while Roch 'N' Horse's owners Little Avondale Stud also have Belluci Babe in the sprint.