'I haven't really slept and I might not for another week after this' - ecstatic George Baker in disbelief after Stewards' Cup win

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Seldom has the Stewards' Cup been so simple.

The season's toughest sprint handicap was won in extraordinary fashion as the front-running Get It held off all challengers to become the biggest-priced winner since 2008 and spark raucous scenes in the winner's enclosure.

For George Baker, the party started when the meeting did. The trainer was born locally and operates just half an hour down the road at Robins Farm in Chiddingfold. In 2013  he sent out the wonderful moneyspinner Belgian Bill to win the Royal Hunt Cup and that horse was awarded the Golden Mile at this track two years later when So Beloved was disqualified after returning a banned substance, but this time Baker was able to enjoy the winning atmosphere immediately.

"This week is massive for our family," he said, fending off congratulatory tackles from fellow trainers. "I’m a Sussex man and I’ve been coming to this race since I was five or six. It’s been a long week and we've had a house full of hooligans and reprobates. 

"We’ve had a party that started on Tuesday and it won’t end until about next Tuesday now. I haven’t really slept and I might not sleep for another week after this. Races like this are incredibly hard to win, just to get horses to run in them is really hard, so to win it is a dream come true.

"It’s magical. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I stopped in two loos on the way down to compose myself and I might have to go back to a few more to check on my telephone that it really did happen. I’m not quite sure when we’ll be going to bed but on the back of this, who needs bed?"

George Baker gets a hug from clerk of the course Ed Arkell after Get It's win in the Stewards' CupCredit: Edward Whitaker

Get It broke sharply from the highest stall and soon established a clear lead under Pat Cosgrave. While Apollo One set off in pursuit, last year's second never truly looked like bettering that effort and was half a length adrift at the line.

The winner is not a straightforward character and trailed home in 13th over five furlongs at Ascot last time after getting worked up in the preliminaries, but both Baker and Cosgrave were confident he would outrun his odds after observing his much calmer pre-race demeanour. 

"If he’d come here before his last run he’d have been a lot shorter price," Cosgrave said. "He likes Epsom and, especially being drawn on the stands' rail, I couldn't believe his price. He was 50-1 this morning and I thought it was too big.

"I was happy after going halfway. We didn’t go crazy but we got racing a long way out. When you hold him and then let him go he’s like a little spring. He takes off and then can freewheel all the way to the line."

Such races are devilishly tough to win and yet Cosgrave was doing so on his first ride of the meeting. The celebrations marked a big change of scene from Thursday evening's meeting at Wolverhampton, which he left without a winner. 

"I haven’t been here all week," he said. "I thought, 'I’ll only come Saturday because I think I’ve got a small chance', so it’s paid off."

While the swashbuckling ride reaped rewards for Cosgrave, Baker is hoping the victory is a good sign as he takes a risk of his own. The trainer will relocate his horses to a new yard in Epsom in 2025, while also manning a satellite yard in Bahrain, where Get It has been housed for two winter stints.

"The horses will go to Downs House in January and then Bahrain will be a massive part of our winter," he said. "We’ve got a lot of exciting plans and having a nice little horserace like this to keep everything ticking is great."

Returning his attentions to the present, he said: "It was pretty simple, wasn’t it? I kept looking around because you’re expecting something to come because you don’t expect to win the Stewards’ Cup. I’m never going to win the Stewards’ Cup, but I think I’ve just won the Stewards’ Cup."

You've got it, so you better go and get it, George.

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