Trainer Barry Baldwin calls time on a brilliant career

By Glenn Davis

After more than 60 years involved in the racing industry, Eagle Farm veteran Barry Baldwin has called time on his Group 1-winning training career.

The 80-year-old Baldwin was a battling bush trainer when he first started but went on to become one of Queensland’s leading trainers.

A former jockey whose biggest claim to fame was riding four winners at Surat in South West Queensland, Baldwin plans to bring the curtain down on his illustrious career at the end of the month.

Baldwin soared to great heights after gaining his trainer’s licence in 1965 and kicked off at Roma in South West Queensland.

He later took the plunge and moved to Toowoomba where he stayed for 13 years.

“I trained a couple of winners at my first meeting at the picnics and I trained 30 to 40 winners every year at places all around the state while I was at Roma,” Baldwin said.

“I only had a team of about 14 to 16 horses in work in those early days.”

Following his success at Roma, Baldwin took up his next challenge to base himself at Toowoomba.

“I had trained over 600 winners in the country and I trained the program once at Roma before I went to Toowoomba in 1981,” he said.

“I stayed in Toowoomba for 13 years and moved to Eagle Farm in 1994.”

After winning a Brisbane trainers’ premiership, Baldwin made the biggest decision of his life to pack up and train in Macau.

“I went over there a couple of times to have a look and met up with (former jockey) Brent Thomson and we agreed they didn’t train the horses hard enough, so I decided to give it ago and moved there,” Baldwin said.

“After I won the Brisbane premiership I went to Macau in 2000 and trained 100 winners in my first season.

“The prize money was very good in those days and they only raced three times a week.

“My horses won $20 million in Hong Kong money, which is about $5 million Australia.”

During his star-studded career Baldwin trained more than 2000 winners with his greatest victory in the 2006 Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm with three-year-old filly La Montagna.

He rates La Montagna and his former top sprinter Baggio, who finished second to All Our Mob in the 1994 Stradbroke Handicap, as the best horses he has trained.

“La Montagna and Baggio were probably the best horses I have trained but I had a lot of other good horses like Meg’s Ego as well,” he said.

Baldwin also rated Mick Dittman, Chris Munce and Mike Pelling in the top bracket of jockeys to come out of Queensland.

Baldwin has only a small team in work these days but he won’t be entirely lost to the racing industry.

“I’ve only got five or six horses and it’s becoming too costly to run a small stable,” Baldwin said.

“I’m retiring at the end of the month but I hope to still be around in some capacity.”