From the trainer. Bonny O'Reilly BJORN BAKER RACING 1 BONNY O REILLY ADDS VALUABLE BLACK TYPE TO HER PEDIGREE! JULY 2017

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1 From the trainer JULY 2017 I am happy to report the 2016/2017 season has to date been a solid year, with an especially proficient late autumn into winter. The winter elements can sometimes challenge training efforts, however I am happy to say our horses look much better than previous winters and are racing accordingly. I am always trying to improve and use technology available, therefore a few changes in the stable environment setup are aiding our horses wellbeing, and seem so far to be assisting in warding off the usual round of winter viruses. The shortest day of the year has passed, so it should only be upwards from here. The Queensland Winter Carnival has now concluded. We had a very respectable carnival, albeit without hitting the highs of last year. The highlights were Music Magnate s win in the Gr 2 Victory Stakes and Bonny O Reilly winning the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes (which cements her residual value). The capstone of recent months would have to be my first City Saturday Treble at Rosehill with three progressive horses saluting well, in Test The World, Collateral and Sir Plush. I would like to thank my solid team behind me, whose efforts always contribute to the stable results. I always try to surpass my previous targets an immediate goal is to attempt to beat last year s 121 winners, and I currently have 118 with 2 weeks to go. Other benchmarks I measure my performance on already show improvement with my number of metro winners being well clear of previous efforts with 43 (36 in Sydney). Stake money has also exceeded previous year s totals, with $5.8 million (incl. Winning Rupert s $500,000 bonus) being won so far for my clients. As much as I love living and breathing racing, from time to time I need a break to recharge, so my family and I are heading to Fiji for a short holiday in early July which means I ll be keen to attack the new season with gusto. BONNY O REILLY ADDS VALUABLE BLACK TYPE TO HER PEDIGREE! when winning the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes at Doomben on the 3rd June Bonny O'Reilly BJORN BAKER RACING 1

2 2016/17 Highlights Bonny O Reilly wins the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes at Doomben 3rd June Sir Plush wins at Rosehill 17th June Winners are grinners! Test The World wins at Rosehill 17th June Collateral wins at Rosehill 17th June Sangiovese wins at Canterbury 14th June 2

3 Champagne Cuddles wins at Randwick 10th June Live to Dream wins at Kembla 10th June Collateral wins Canterbury 7th June Test The World wins at Rosehill 3rd June Vega wins Canterbury 24th May Bonny O Reilly wins at Rosehill 20th May Samadoubt wins at Warwick Farm 28th June Seething Jackal wins at Wyong 29th June BJORN BAKER RACING 3

4 A Magnate for Victory Last year s Group 1 Doomben 10,000 winner Music Magnate resumed in terrific style this preparation at Eagle Farm with a win in the Group 2 Victory Stakes in late April. Controlling the race in the lead, the son of Written Tycoon proved too good over the concluding stages to win by over a length. Purchased from the 2013 New Zealand Karaka Select Yearling Sale for $45,000 from the Westbury Stud draft, this gelding has given him and his owners so many thrilling moments including three stakes race wins. Having won eight races from 19 starts, Music Magnate has taken his career earnings to over a million dollars, a wonderful achievement for he and his owners. Unfortunately he didn t handle the heavy track in his last two starts and he sustained an injury which has required fetlock surgery. Hopefully we will see him back in early BJORN BAKER RACING

5 A Bonny Mare Bonny O Reilly, a daughter of O Reilly is a mare I purchased from New Zealand from the NZB Premier Yearling Sale for $100,000. She has always shown good ability, having won her maiden at Nowra over 1000m by 9.5 lengths before going on to win at Scone her next start. From there, Bonny was given a break before returning late in 2016 to win both a mid-week and Saturday metropolitan race. Being a daughter of O Reilly, Bonny O Reilly was always going to improve with age and that she did. As a 4yo in the autumn, she won her first two starts at Rosehill before stepping up in grade and tacking her first stakes race, the Listed Helen Coughlan in dominant fashion. She then went on to finish third in the Group 2 Dane Ripper takes, beaten less than a length. It was so rewarding to see this lovely mare get her much deserved black type which will enhance her pedigree and make her a valuable broodmare one day. Bonny O Reilly will now be set for the 1200m Group 3 Nivison Stakes at Randwick in October and my team and I can t wait to see her back in the yard. Keep an eye out for her. BJORN BAKER RACING 5

6 Stephen Head has been shoeing horses since He started his apprenticeship with a one year pre apprenticeship course at Hawkesbury Agricultural College. It was also the first year of an Industrial Blacksmithing apprenticeship which meant one day a week travelling to Ultimo Tafe, the highlight of which was working on the giant power hammers. Steve then gained an apprenticeship with a Hawkesbury based farrier Alan Hudson. He was lucky during this apprenticeship as he looked after horses from Clydesdales to miniature ponies as well as thoroughbred racehorses and standardbred pacers. Every Thursday, Steve would travel out to Kemps Creek, Badgerys Creek, Eastern Creek to shoe standardbred pacers. It was always a long hard day but they were looked after by the various trainers who invited them into their homes for morning and afternoon tea as well as lunch. After completing his apprenticeship, Steve started his own practice and after several years, he travelled to the US where he visited with a world renowned and sometimes controversial veterinary/farrier in Kentucky. The farrier asked Steve to contact a farrier in the Hunter region of NSW. This farrier was Billy Neville, who, at the time was servicing all of the major Studs in the Hunter. Steve began travelling to the Hunter to work with Billy and his crew which gave him an insight into the care and help a farrier could give to the developing foal and yearling. Whilst in the Hunter, Steve was introduced to Dr Treve Williams who at the time was one of the senior partners at Randwick Equine Centre. When Dr Treve found out Steve was living in Sydney, he asked him to consider coming to Randwick to start shoeing racehorses. That was in 1989 and Steve has been shoeing at the three major racetracks in Sydney Spending time with STEVE HEAD - FARRIER since then. I have been fortunate enough to have worked with some fantastic trainers and their horses. My favourite horse would have to be Super Impose who won the Doncaster and the Epsom Handicap two years in a row. When he won the second Doncaster, I kept the winning shoes and when he ran in the second Epsom, I put the winning shoes back on him. Unfortunately an overzealous apprentice thought the plates were an old set of junk and threw them out. Over the years, Steve has trained eight apprentices of which seven are earning a full time living from the trade and he sponsored a Scottish farrier who now has a successful business. At present Steve has one apprentice and one tradesman working with him and he is shoeing horses at Randwick and Warwick Farm. They shoe a few hacks, dressage and one day event horses also and they work with veterinary hospitals. Shoeing horses is a necessary evil. The equine 6 BJORN BAKER RACING

7 hoof is somewhat similar to our finger nail and is designed to grow at the same rate at which it is worn away. However, when we domesticated the horse we changed this situation. We exercise them on concrete and asphalt and we add the weight of the rider. To protect the hoof we apply a steel or alloy shoe with mild steel nails. The nails are a flat rectangular dimension which reduces the displacement of the wall and the tip has a bevel which causes the nail to arc and exit the wall at an appropriate height. The hoof grows down as a cone and so the ground surface diameter increases through the shoeing cycle. The hoof grows approximately one cm every six weeks and because we shoe the race horses with a light shoe and fit it very closely to the circumference of the perimeter of the hoof, they have to be reshod every three weeks. The health of the hoof is paramount. The thoroughbred race horse is built for stamina and speed. Its hoof has a thin hoof wall ( in fact many ponies half the weight and size have a thicker hoof wall and their hooves are half as wide so in fact in terms of width of hoof to hoof wall thickness their hoof wall is probably four times as thick). The racehorses hoof angle is quite low and so the hoof angle can become unbalanced quite easily which will increase pressure on the rear half of the hoof and then crush soft tissue in that area. Also as the angles of the hoof and pastern change there are detrimental changes to the stress and strain on ligaments and tendons that can occur quite easily. A farriers job is to trim the hoof to normal proportions and perhaps add mechanical aid to do so. We now have acrylics that can be used to reconstruct the hoof if needed. Farriery is indeed hard physical work and it may seem that one hoof is the same as another but in fact every hoof is different and it is a challenge to trim the hoof to a normal proportion. BJORN BAKER RACING 7

8 Jean Van Overmeire is my stable apprentice. He is a very good rider and I predict next year, the leading apprentice in New South Wales. He s a good young guy, a hard worker and you will see him more and more on your horses. Make sure you say g day next time you see him at the races. Q: Tell us a little about yourself? How did you come to get involved in racing? A: I was born in South Africa and raised on a farm where I taught myself to ride. We didn t have a saddle or bridle so I used to make my own out of bale twine and ride bareback. I used to be out with my pony from sunrise til sunset, it was where I was my happiest and where my love for horses stemmed from. At the age of 12 my family moved to a town in England near Newmarket, Suffolk. By the age of 14 I had already been bitten by the racing bug and was working part time for a local trainer. It wasn t until I was 17 that I set my mind on becoming a jockey. I had a handful of rides and a winner before I quickly realised I was too immature and inexperienced to really excel so I made the decision to work for Mike de Kock and travel with his horses to gain more knowledge and experience. I was lucky enough to travel to both Hong Kong and Dubai with Mike s horses before I headed over to Australia to pursue my dream of becoming a jockey. Q: How did you came to be indentured to Bjorn: A: I met Jack Bruce (Bjorn s racing manager) while I was in Dubai with Mike de Kock. We stayed in touch and he was the first person I contacted when I decided to make the move to Australia. Getting to know... JEAN VAN OVERMEIRE Q: What is it like working for Bjorn? A: Mornings are always busy at Bjorn s stables, with a 3am start and around 10 horses to ride, you ve got to be on the ball. With plenty of horses to care for I m found either working arvo or strapping if I m not race riding. Bjorn is a great boss to me and is always pointing me in the right direction. Whether I ride winners every day of the week or none at all, Bjorn always keeps me grounded. Q. Who is your favourite horse in the stable? 8 BJORN BAKER RACING A: My favourite horse in the stable has got to be Live To Dream. She was my first winner for Bjorn and is a real character at track work.

9 Q: What is a day in the life of Jean like? A: My day starts when my alarm goes off at 2.15am. I get dressed and make a coffee before heading to work for a 3am start. After riding track work I come home and pack my race bag, prepare my meals for the day and do my form. I then head straight to the races where I spend the majority of my day, often not leaving until 5pm before a long drive home with hopes of dodging all the roos! I reach home with time for around 4 hours sleep before I wake up and do it all over again. The days are long but if you love what you do then you re never really working a day in your life! Q: How did it feel to ride your first city winner? A: It s a day I ll never forget! I remember starting to smile before I crossed the finishing line, knowing that no one could possibly pass Samadoubt! What gave me even more of a buzz was seeing Bjorn cheering for me, clapping and punching the air, just outside his office next to the track as I was cantering back to the winners enclosure. It was a great feeling knowing that all the hard work I put in was paying off, I had ridden my first city winner as just a first year apprentice and the smile on my face couldn t have been bigger! Q: What are your plans/dreams for the future? If you could win one race, what would it be? A: I was always told that if my dreams didn t scare me then they weren t big enough! I hope to out ride my country and provincial claim in the near future so I can make a full time appearance in the city. I look up to jockeys like Lenny Beasley and would love to follow in his footsteps and win the Golden Slipper. The ultimate dream is to be riding in Group 1 s around the globe and just one of the many races I d like to win is the Dubai World Cup. BJORN BAKER RACING 9

10 Waikato Stud is a world renowned Thoroughbred nursery dedicated to the breeding, rearing and development of elite racehorses. Its modern day reputation as a birthplace of champions, began in 1993 following its purchase by Garry and Mary Chittick. Owned and operated by son Mark Chittick, the Matamata-based nursery has forged an undisputed record as New Zealand s number one producer of international G1 winners, and now spans over 1700 acres of prime New Zealand soil. At last count, the stud was responsible for 31 individual G1 winners and boasts a remarkable average of 12 individual stakes winners bred per season. Waikato Stud launched the careers of many successful stallions such as CENTAINE and POMPEII COURT, however the flagship of the farm has been Champion sire, O REILLY (below). A New Zealand Horse of the Year, O Reilly won the Centaine Award for global progeny earnings four times, the Dewar Award for Australasian earnings three times and the Grosvenor Award for the NZ progeny four times, in addition to twice Kiwi Connection WAIKATO STUD being named Hong Kong s leading stallion. His legacy lives on through daughters such as Bonny O Reilly, who I recently trained to win the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes in Queensland. Waikato currently stands top sires Savabeel and Pins. My father Murray & I have had stunning success buying from Waikato Stud, training some of their retained stock and progeny of their stallions. I have had 13 individual runners by O Reilly with 11 of them having won a race. 10 BJORN BAKER RACING

11 Below is a select list of the various success I have enjoyed with Waikato Stud s progeny: Addictive Nature (Savabeel) was purchased for $775,000 from the NZ Premier Sale and has had one recent trial win. A brother to Savvy Nature, he has also shown good promise and is worth following. Bonny O Reilly (O Reilly) purchased for $100,000 from the NZ Premier Yearling Sale from the Waikato Stud draft won the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes. Burbero (O Reilly) was successful in both the Group 2 Missile Stakes and the Group 2 Ajax Stakes. He remains the most prolific runner for my stable to date, registering 12 race day wins over his career and amassing just over $700,000 in prizemoney. Celtic Prince (O Reilly) was purchased for $130,000 from the NZ Ready to Run Sale, and finished 2nd in the G1 Auckland Cup. Dublin Diva (O Reilly) was purchased for $140,000 from the NZ Premier Sale, out of the Waikato Stud draft, and has had two recent trials for two wins. She is a promising filly to follow. Gold Ambition (Savabeel) was purchased for $260,000 from the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale. He finished third in both the Group 1 Randwick Guineas & the Group 3 Spring Stakes Hendrix - The Jazz (H.K.) (O Reilly) was purchased for $110,000 from the NZ Premier Sale, out of the Waikato Stud draft. He subsequently won three of his four starts before being sold to Hong Kong for $400,000. Bonny O Reilly s little sister by Ocean Park Miss Tenpins (Pins) was purchased for $8,000 from the NZ Select Sale, out of the Waikato Stud draft. She won over $200,000 in prizemoney & finished third in the Listed Bright Shadow Stakes Sir Plush (Pins) has won two Saturday city races and is five time metropolitan placed. He has now won over $190,000 in prizemoney and is raced by Maurie McLeod, who also BJORN BAKER RACING 11

12 Bjorn's Best A weekly stable tip, straight from the horse s mouth! Be sure to check our Twitter & Facebook page weekly for Bjorn s Best. 26 winners tipped to date! Spring Blackbookers: Addictive Nature recently won a trial impressively Champagne Cuddles heads to the Group 3 San Domenico Stake sat Rosehill on the 12th August LIKE on Facebook Bjorn Baker Racing facebook.com/bjornbakerracing FOLLOW on 12