BALDWIN REFLECTS ON HIS PREMIERSHIP WINNING SEASON

Barry Baldwin had the Brisbane Trainers’ Premiership wrapped up before the last meeting of the season at Eagle Farm, but he went out in style with Burdekin Blues routing his rivals by a widening nine length margin to provide one last celebration to complete a successful but very testing season for the Eagle Farm based trainer.

Baldwin, who also has a Trainers’ Premiership title in Macau on his resume, was pleased but also philosophical about his success.

“I’ve been lucky that I’ve had some horses come good at the right time and we’ve been able to place them nicely,”said Baldwin. “That has helped me a lot.

“EI was a problem for everybody of course,” continued Baldwin. “We all suffered.

Again I was probably very lucky to get some good advice.

A fellow said to me at the time, ‘after quarantine, don’t turn your horses out once they are cleared to leave the yard.’ He said I should keep them in the stable, his argument being that if they are off in the paddock somewhere you might not know if they have coughed or not, whereas in the stable I could monitor things more closely.

“So I did that and I think that served me well.

“You know, for me personally, EI brought good and bad into the racing scene.

"I believe a lot more damage was done to the horses than many people generally believe.

“I see it in the number of horses with breathing problems. I see it with the number of horses prone to bleeding. The lungs of a horse are so delicate.

"Some of that would have happened anyway, but I believe there is now a higher incidence of those sort of problems and I think it stems from EI. So there is a worry there.”

And the good to come out of EI?

“Over the years, with the stewards and trainers there has always been a sort of ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality,” explained Baldwin. “Nothing sinister ... but they are the police of racing and in a sense that means they are always trying to catch us out on something.

“Well that relationship changed dramatically during the EI outbreak,” emphasised Baldwin. “I have never seen anybody bend over backwards so much to try and help the trainers as the stewards did during that time.

“I’ve got so much more respect for the stewards group after EI than I had before. Not that I had a big problem with them before or anything like that. Don’t get me wrong.

"What I’m saying is they have earned a new found respect from me. Sometimes it takes adversity to change things for the better and that’s what EI did in that case”

Baldwin will step out into the new season encouraged by his latest set of results.

His recent back to back midweek winners, Cicarelli and Burdekin Blues are just two reasons Baldwin can be optimistic about the future.

The former has won two from two. The filly came from the clouds to snatch victory on her debut over 1100m and then went to the front and trounced her opposition over 1200m in her second start.

Baldwin puts those runs, with seemingly opposing strategy, into perspective.

“We actually wanted to lead first time out but she did a few things wrong so we could’nt follow the plan,” explained Baldwin. (The Stewards report notes that Cicarelli was difficult to load, took a heavy bump at the start and was tightened for room shortly after the start).

“Then she did it the way we wanted it in her second start,” continued Baldwin, “and won very well, so yeah ... there is certainly something to work with there.

“With regard to Burdekin Blues, he was going to run on Saturday. I also have a horse called Simplest. Burdekin Blues and Simplest have the same owners and they didn’t want their runners to clash so we decided to give Burdekin Blues the easier option today.

“He would have had a workout tomorrow anyway, so, instead he went around today and picked up eight grand for his trouble.

“The most exciting thing about this horse though is ... alright he’s run a creditable second and third before this win, but I’ve been saying all the time that he is not a wet weather horse. After today maybe they’ll start believing me.”

For the record, Baldwin saddled 41 Metropolitan winners for the season, nine winners more than his closest rival, Rob Heathcote.

Like Baldwin, jockey Jim Byrne and apprentice jockey Mandy Radecker also rounded off their Premiership winning season on a high note at the last meeting.

Championship leader Byrne quickly repelled any chance of a late turnaround of fortune for the chasing Glen Colless by taking out two of the opening three events on the card aboard Cattleman and Zulu Man, while Radecker’s expertise helped Shady Prospect, who was the medium of a fair betting plunge, come home as a clear-cut winner on his debut.