3 minute read

In the 12 months that Quiet Riot has been off the scene his older half brother Golden Sixty has reached champion status in Hong Kong but trainer Bjorn Baker is confident, ahead of his return at Warwick Farm on Wednesday, the best is still to come.

Golden Sixty has set a high bar for the family given he is now a three-time Group 1 winner and since Quiet Riot last raced has posted eight of his 13 straight victories.

The four-year-old created a big impression with his debut win in January of last year but it was a trip to Canterbury for his scheduled third race start in late February 2020 that stopped him in his tracks.

Quiet Riot suffered a fetlock injury that required surgery when he kicked out in the tie-up stalls pre-race and it has taken time to get him back to the track.

"He's always been a good looking horse and we've always had a very good opinion of him,'' Baker said.

"At his first start he was very good and at his second start he wasn't too bad in a tough race and I don't think he handled the wet track.

"He went back to Canterbury and I thought he would have won that night but he kicked back in the tie up. Since then we gelded him and touch wood he's been perfect this time in."

Canterbury was set to be the venue for his first run as a gelding on February 19 but Bjorn Baker elected to dodge another wet track and sent him back to the trials four days later where he ran a pleasing third behind Marway and Savatiano.

It's fair to say the Bowermans Commercial Furniture Handicap (1200m) has opened up with the early scratching of boom three-year-old Vowmaster and Baker said Quiet Riot, $2.70 favourite with TAB on Tuesday, is in the right shape to capitalise.

"I think he's ready to go. He's had a couple of good trials and I think he will run well,'' he said.

"I think he's definitely come back and no doubt he is city class and he will be better than that in time. We'll play it one step at a time.

"We'll leave tactics up to Jason (Collett), he probably has a bit more tactical speed than he's credited for so we'll put him in the first half and get him going."

Baker has high hopes for Exotic Ruby to break back into the winner's stall in the Robrick Lodge Handicap (1200m).

The mare was runner-up in a good form race behind Vulpine at Warwick Farm last month before beating one home in the Group 2 Millie Fox Stakes (1300m) behind Subpoenaed.

"I thought her run in the Group 2 was actually pretty good, she had no luck from the gate and was right there until the 150m,'' Baker said.

"We haven't had to do too much with her, she should be hard to beat. We will be positive with her, she'll go forward and should be kicking at the finish."

Stablemate Ocean Emperor has shown plenty of talent in his short career so far but Baker concedes he'll need to be on his game first-up in the Sky Racing Active Handicap (1000m).

There he'll bump into John O'Shea's unbeaten Lost And Running and Joe Pride's Torun among his rivals, but Baker said Ocean Emperor's best is good enough.

So far he's won two of his four starts but failed to beat a horse home in his two defeats – granted they were to Peltzer and The Bopper..

"One was on a wet track so he has excuses there, I still think he is a very promising horse and the best is yet to come,'' Baker said.

"It's a really tough race but you've got to be in to win.

"He's well set up with a good grounding, he looks fantastic, he's bigger and stronger so he's not out of it."