Racing: The wheel turns for Baker

It's A Dundeel and Murray Baker after his Moonee Valley workout. Photo / Getty Images

Murray Baker has always said he doesn't feel pressure.

For the most part that appears true.

The master Cambridge horseman gets around racetracks with a shuffle that has a distant air of concentration about it, coupled with a slight lean forward.

He could still be leaning on the bat which took him to Central Districts cricketing representation in an earlier decade.

However, when Baker heard the news on Tuesday of the scratching of Atlantic Jewel from Saturday's A$3 million Cox Plate it's impossible to believe there wasn't at least some slight easing of the jaw muscles.

In the toughest game in town no one likes to see a prized racehorse strike misfortune.

Too much has gone into this.

But in horse racing someone's misfortune is always good luck elsewhere. And this is the Cox Plate - Australasia's pinnacle of weight-for-age supremacy.

This means an awful lot to It's A Dundeel's future stud career, which has already been signed up for.

However, it means an awful lot more to Murray Baker personally.

This will be his fifth crack at the Cox (The Phantom (2), Nom du Jeu and Lion Tamer) and his luck thus far has been diabolical.

His Victoria Derby winner Lion Tamer had to be euthanised after cracking a hind leg on pulling up in the Cox Plate of 2011.

You won't hear Baker say this, but you can guarantee he's thinking it's about time the bad luck turned elsewhere. You can't imagine how the Atlantic Jewel camp is feeling.

Despite winning 10 of 11, she disappears from the racetrack with a veil of "what might have been".

It's a family trait.

Her Zabeel dam, Regard, suffered the same fate after being rated as "special" winning two of her only three races.

The $235,000 Karaka purchase then broke her neck in a broodmare paddock accident after producing just two foals, Atlantic Jewel and Command Jewel, also a 1000 Guineas winner.

Murray Baker has had his woes - while Atlantic Jewel was cementing her position with the public as a Cox Plate shoo-in, the New Zealander was developing grey hairs with It's A Dundeel's foot abscess.

The fact the scales have tipped completely the other way was yesterday summed up by Atlantic Jewel's trainer Mark Kavanagh.

"You can't walk around with your chin dragging on the ground.

"Four years ago, I had our Derby favourite Shamoline Warrior scratched on the morning of the race and three days later I won the Melbourne Cup with Shocking.

"I could still be at Mount Gambier worrying about the favourite being scratched from the local cup.

"Racing can hit you hard, but it also brings fresh hope every day."

Amen, says Murray Baker.