Charlton Baker leaned down and slid a safety pin into a front bandage on a bay gelding set to train Thursday morning. Baker doesn’t look like a trainer. In a U.S. Army, Fort Knox T-shirt and doing the work of a groom, Finger Lakes’ favorite son has 10 horses stabled at Saratoga. Baker’s barn sits on a diagonal, tucked into the trees, in the neighborhood of Dallas Stewart, Billy Badgett and Mike Trombetta. You wouldn’t know whose barn it is by looking at it. Red webbings, blue saddle towels, not a stall plaque or a name tag in sight.
That’s Charlton Baker.
The Jamaica-born trainer sent Talking Treasure to win the Fleet Indian Wednesday, upping his record to one win, two seconds and a third at Saratoga this summer. For Baker, it’s just another prolific stint at Saratoga. He has been invading Saratoga for years, and went 3-for-9 last year. Still, photographers ask writers, “Is that the trainer?” when his horses hit the circle. Yeah, that’s him. In the afternoon – at least for stakes – he wears a suit.
Baker, 45, used to reign as king of the receiving barn, shipping from his Finger Lakes base and usually taking the money home. Baker’s Top Shoter could rival a bootlegger, as many times as he snuck in and out of town. Baker didn’t stay long – just run and done.
“I think the first horse I brought up here was a horse by Houston. I just bought him, he was an a-other-than, he ran OK, finished fifth,” Baker said. “Not really intimidated, just hoping you’ve got the right horse. That’s the only thing – just hoping you’ve got the right horse, if the horse quality is enough. It’s hard to judge a horse (at Finger Lakes) because it’s day and night; they might be a star there and just another horse here. If he fits, and he’s good enough, then you feel good about it. But, yeah, it’s different competition. Different ball game.”
Baker has gradually been able to build his single-A ball club into one ready for the show. Big owners such as Sugar Maple Farm, Anstu Farm, and Ken and Sarah Ramsey have moved horses to Baker and he’s gradually become a force on the main New York stage. He has five horses at Belmont Park, 10 at Saratoga and another 30 or so at Finger Lakes.
“I’m always planning for Saratoga. I want to have big meets here,” Baker said. “I keep some good young ones for Saratoga. This is the best racing in the world, you have to come here and win. It’s the most thrilling win you’ll ever get, no matter what kind of race.”
Baker has been thrilled by the races since his dad, a trainer, took him to the only racetrack in Jamaica. Caymanas Park runs mostly on Wednesdays and Saturdays; events range from 5-furlong straightaway dashes to 9-furlong races coming out of the backstretch chute. They run left-handed. No turf. They have a Derby, an Oaks, a St. Leger and the big one, the Red Stripe Super Stakes at the end of November.
“It’s as big as Belmont and the grandstand is always full. It’s not as large as Saratoga but when the horses turn for home there, the roar, the noise . . . it’s not like Aqueduct or Belmont, but like here,” Baker said. “I’ve never really thought about taking a horse there. My friends down there want me to do it, but I’m kind of busy here.”
Baker learned the game from the bottom up. He read any American racing magazine he could get his hands on in Jamaica. His dad would bring home the Thoroughbred Times and he’d scour it like a lawyer preparing for the bar. He studied breeding, stallions, trainer patterns, his dad’s methods – anything and everything. He knew the difference between T.V. Commercial and T.V. Lark. Moving to America simply changed the geography, not the occupation.
“If I stayed in Jamaica, I’d be doing the same thing, training horses. I was going to go to college but I came here instead,” Baker said. “It was a natural thing to go back to the horses, it’s been a great stay.”
Baker landed at Belmont Park, studied trainers, including Pete Ferriola, and then moved to Finger Lakes when his dad moved there to train horses. He’s been banging it out at Finger Lakes ever since. Well, except for his forays to Saratoga.
“I love Finger Lakes, it’s a great place to live. But if I get the right owner, the right situation, you never know, you never know. I dreamed of getting to the point where I could spread out,” Baker said. “You never really see the light at the end of the tunnel until you’re actually there.”
