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| Reade Baker |
Stats Updated Through: 11/19/2009
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| 2009 Stats: | | Starts | | 337 | | 1st-2nd-3rd | | 46-40-47 | | Earnings (Rank) | | $2,626,884 (49) | | Win % (In-The-Money %) | | 13% (39%) |
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Top Associated Horses:
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Biofuel,
Fatal Bullet,
Bear Tough Guy,
Ring of Greatness,
Dash It Dreamer,
Bearcatt |
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Biography and Highlights:
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- Born: April 30, 1947, Port Dalhousie, Ontario
- Residence: Weston, Ontario
- Family: Wife Janis, a former business executive who helps manage the stable's paperwork and Web site
- Web site: www.readebaker.com
- Racing Background: Baker grew up on a small dairy farm where he first learned to ride and work with horses. His uncle Charles took him to Fort Erie Racetrack for the first time when he was 14 and Baker knew instantly he wanted to work in racing ... Started cutting classes to go to the track until his parents caught him and sent him to a boarding school in Kitchener, where, ironically, the first friend he made was John Chris, the son of a trainer. John went on to become a veterinarian and is currently Baker's stable veterinarian ... Baker got his first job on the racetrack in 1965 at age 18 as groom for Pete (Gord) McCann. He also was an exercise rider, with Horse of the Year Kennedy Road among his charges ... Next he enjoyed six successful years as the agent for jockey Gary Stahlbaum; the pair won 17 stakes during their first year together. In 1985, Baker went to work as racing manager for Rick Kennedy, for whom he plotted the careers of such standouts as Afleet, Storm On the Loose and One From Heaven. In this role he traveled to Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, England and Ireland to learn various training methods, knowledge that proved invaluable when he opened a public stable in 1990 as Kennedy reduced his racing operation. ... Over the years, Baker has served on the boards of various horsemen's organizations. He was elected a member of The Jockey Club of Canada in 2002 and sits on the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame planning committee.
- Racing Career: Baker's sensational 2008 season was capped off when two of his stable stars won three Sovereign Awards. Fatal Bullet, who set sizzling fractions before finishing second in the Sentient Flight Breeders' Cup Sprint, earned a pair of Sovereign Awards as Canada's top sprinter and Horse of the Year, and G2 winner Bear Now, who faded to last in the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic, took home honors as the top older female horse...Bear Now was sold for $950,000 at the Fasig-Tipton November Select Sale; Fatal Bullet remains under Baker's care and is expected to give the Breeders' Cup Sprint a second try after winning the G1 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland ... Fatal Bullet suffered a serious knee injury in December 2008 while training for the G1 Malibu Stakes and spent the winter undergoing treatment and rehabilitation in Florida. With Baker's patience and expertise, he returned to start in the G1 Vanderbilt Stakes at Saratoga this summer. "He didn't like the dirt track at Saratoga," Baker said. "He prefers the Polytrack and that's where he'll race.".... Fatal Bullet also won the $150,000 Bold Venture Stakes on Woodbine's Polytrack on July 19, 2009, for the second consecutive year ... In 2005, Baker earned his first Sovereign Award as Canada's leading trainer; his trainee Judiths Wild Rush was named top Canadian Sprinter both that year and in 2006.... Baker’s stable reached $1 million in earnings in 1999, a figured he has bettered every year since ... Other recent stakes winners include Coy Coyote, Slew Valley, Vestry Lady, Bear's Kid, Bear Holiday, Kentucky Bear, Bearcatt, who won the 2009 Woodstock Stakes at Woodbine in April, and Fastin Bear, a 2-year-old stakes winnner at Woodbine in 2009 ... In addition to Fatal Bullet, Baker is pointing G3 Selena Stakes winner Biofuel to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies ... Baker's major clients include Jim and Susan Hill, Stronach Stable, Shannon and Roger Fortier's Jus Luk Stable, and Bear Stable, owned by Danny Dion, who includes his nickname, "Bear" in most of his horses' names. Dion owns Breeders' Cup starters Fatal Bullet (2008 Sprint) and also owned Bear Now (2007 and 2008 Ladies' Classic) before her sale to Town and Country Farm ... In 2007-08, Dion and Baker were aggressive at the yearling sales, looking for Triple Crown prospects, but the philosophy changed in 2009. "I concentrate more now on Canadian-breds to race in Canada," Dion said ... Dion and Baker made their first Triple Crown appearance in the 2008 G1 Preakness with Kentucky Bear, who finished sixth to Big Brown after earlier finishing third in the G1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in his third career start ... Kentucky Bear suffered a career-ending injury while training at Santa Anita in the fall of 2008 and has been retired to stud. Baker and Dion also had a very good day at Turfway Park at the end of September 2008, saddling Fatal Bullet to win the G3 Kentucky Cup Sprint Stakes and Bear Now to win the G3 Kentucky Cup Distaff ... Major horses in training now include Fatal Bullet; Fastin Bear, the Simcoe Stakes winner out of Regal and Bold, also trained by Baker; Milwaukee Chief; Monty's Best; Rhythm of the Sea; Intersky America; and Bearcatt. Lifetime, Baker's horses have banked nearly $33 million and won over 75 stakes, 16 of them graded ... For 2009, Baker is on track to finish among the top five trainers at Woodbine for the sixth straight season...For the year through Oct. 19, he had 40 wins, 37 seconds, and 40 thirds from 292 starters for $2,321,869 in earnings. His top assistant is Leroy Trotman
- Breeding/Racing Operation: Reade and Janis Baker had long been involved in the breeding business but sold all 10 of their mares in 2008. "We thought the market was dipping and it would be a good time to sell and that proved to be true," he said. "All the mares are gone now but we do miss them."... Among the best horses they bred are Elusive Thought, an Elusive Quality filly who won the Fury Stakes, and Ontheqt, by Mazel Trick, who won the Fanfreluche and Star Shoot Stakes.... Baker is also is well known for breeding and showing prize-winning exotic ducks and chickens, some of whom roam his barn at Woodbine.
Breeders' Cup Record| Starts | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Earnings | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | $400,000 |
| 2007 | Ladies' Classic | Bear Now | 8th | | 2008 | Ladies' Classic | Bear Now | 8th | | | Sprint | Fatal Bullet | 2nd |
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NOTE: Stats include North American and selected international races. Click here to view selected international race list.
Biographies on jockeys, trainers and owners are from the Breeders' Cup World Championships events from 2001 through 2009, and are intended as informational resources. Biographies will be updated if an individual is again a participant in the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
Biographies are available for most horses appearing in the top 100 money earnings list, and/or for those who are frequently making headlines in the news starting with the 2006 Triple Crown season.
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