'I'll never ride another like Kauto Star - he was the horse of a lifetime'
Julian Muscat meets Clifford Baker, who loves life as Paul Nicholls' head lad
For Clifford Baker, long-standing head lad at Paul Nicholls’ Manor Farm Stables, the festive season has come to symbolise his love affair with the King George VI Chase.
“My Christmas is all about Boxing Day,” says Baker, who celebrated his 60th birthday last month. “When I was young I remember watching Wayward Lad and of course Desert Orchid. And we have developed a great feeling for the race since I came here in 1996.”
Little wonder. The year after Baker started at Ditcheat, See More Business became the first of 11 King George winners saddled by Nicholls. It’s a remarkable record in the most prestigious park-course steeplechase outside the Cheltenham Festival.
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- 'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'
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- ‘I’ll be there to see the kids open their presents but then it’s a coffee, bang, out the door’ - life in a racing yard at Christmas
- ‘I miss the craic of going racing but it’s a young person’s game these days - and I don’t know how they survive, to be honest’
- 'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'
- 'I don't even know what day of the week it is - I'd love a day off but racing is so relentless that you can't do it'
- 'I didn't realise how famous he was!' - meet the grandson of a sporting legend now transforming a famous old yard