Another day at the office and another winning treble was the result for the powerful training team of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman at Ellerslie on Saturday.
The duo kicked off with a stylish win from highly promising three-year-old Break My Stride before adding to their Trainer’s Premiership leading tally with hardy mares Chambon and Tomelilla later in the day.
Break My Stride strode to the front early in the run home and steadily increased his margin as he hit the line well clear of his rivals who were headed by Embraceable You and Iffitel.
“We weren’t too sure about the track as it was very heavy and testing,” admitted co-trainer Murray Baker.“He’s got a touch of class about him though and in the end, he did it quite comfortably.
“We don’t have any big plans for him as he’s still a touch immature so he will probably have one or maybe two more runs and then we’ll put him away for the spring.”Baker was also full of praise for the efforts of both Tomelilla and Chambon who produced gritty performances although the win of Tomelilla was in doubt for a time before a protest by runner-up Dainty Rose was eventually dismissed by the Judicial committee.
“I thought they both showed a lot of heart as they had a tough fight on that track,” he said.“Tomelilla was headed more than once in the run home but didn’t chuck it away while it was good to see Chambon return to the sort of form we know she is capable of.
“We couldn’t find any excuse for her last run where she finished near last so we decided to press on and it proved the right decision.”The winning treble took Baker and Forsman to 94 wins for the season and puts them 21 clear of their nearest rivals, the Te Akau Racing combination of Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards. With Cameron helming all three runners it helped lift him to a clear third on the National Jockey’s Premiership ladder with 78 wins for the season, just 11 behind the current leader Danielle Johnson.
