From the sand to the snow: jet-setting George Baker eyes unique international double

George Baker will make a quick dash from Bahrain to St Moritz this weekend as he prepares Cumulonimbus and Cemhaan for their course debuts in the feature race on Sunday.

The Surrey based trainer, who has sent out Wargrave and Ancient Greece to win on the frozen lake track, will bid to win the Grosser Preis von St Moritz for a second time, less than 48 hours after watching Lucander in Friday's valuable Sheikh Nasser Cup, which he won last year. 

After missing out on Cumulonimbus at the sales, Baker was contacted by Kentucky Derby-winning owner Ramiro Restrepo on behalf of a new 100-strong syndicate.

“I thought he was trying to sell me Bitcoin or something,” Baker said. “He told me he’d won the Kentucky Derby and I was googling frantically during the phone call and found he was part of the ownership group of Mage.

“When Cumulonimbus went for 150,000gns we thought he was out of our league. Ramiro had noted our exploits on the frozen lake at St Moritz and the call was a lovely one to get.”

The syndicate includes trainers, bloodstock agents and farm owners from the US and 80 of its members will make the trip to Switzerland for the race, which concludes three weekends of racing at St Moritz.

George Baker: runs Cumulonimbus and Cemhaan in the Grosser Preis von St Moritz on SundayCredit: Edward Whitaker

However, their journey will be no more difficult than Baker’s 3,300-mile journey which involves finding a way from Bahrain to a Swiss mountaintop.

Baker said: “We’ve got seven runners in Bahrain on Friday so the logistics of saddling seven in the desert then saddling two in St Moritz are difficult – I can’t imagine anyone else will be doing that journey.

“I think there’s a cocktail party for all the Americans and all the other owners on the lake on Saturday night so that is the incentive to get up the mountain in time.”

The ownership groups behind Baker’s two runners have also found a way to double their chances, each leasing a 25 per cent stake in the others’ runner for the afternoon.

Baker added: “Cemhaan has been a bit of a star for us, a lovely horse. It just seemed to make sense with two horses going over there, so both teams have had a gentleman's handshake via the ether so they will have two to cheer for on Sunday, which is great.”

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