Horse racing: Trainer mighty 'Murray' calling it quits at Easter

James McDonald riding It's A Dundeel wins race 8, Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes during Day Two of The Championships. Photo / Getty Images.

One of New Zealand's greatest ever trainers Murray Baker is going out on top.

Just days after training his latest, and 56th group one winner, the Cambridge mastermind has announced he will retire from training on April 30.

The 75-year-old will step away from training "to take time to enjoy other things" leaving the stables to long-time partner and star trainer in his own right in Andrew Forsman.

Baker's announcement comes just days after his latest group one winner The Chosen One exploded to victory in the Thorndon at Trentham last Saturday, continuing a conveyor belt of group one success on both sides of the Tasman.

While Baker is a training institution here it is his record 22 group one wins in Australia that he is perhaps even more famous for, winning handfuls of Derbys when most Kiwi trainers struggle to ever win one on Australian soil.

He topped all of that winning the Caulfield Cup with Mongolian Khan, has had horses placed in the Melbourne Cup but no race has been testament to Baker's stunning Australian record more than the ATC Derby, which has he not only won five times but staggeringly four times in the last nine years.

His raids struck fear into the connections of Australian horses and bookmakers, the latter group not from Baker himself but from those who backed any three-year-olds who crossed the Tasman for "Murray".

But now, with his beloved Australian trips that much harder, his second knee operation just eight weeks old and Forsman ready to run the stable, Baker has called time.

"I still enjoy it but it can't go on forever," he told the Herald.

"I've got other things I want to do before I get too old and I'm already 75. I have training for 43 years so I have had a good go at it.

"And Andrew is keen to have a real go on his own and he will do a great job."

With three months of early morning starts still to go Baker has time to add to his imposing group one record, with The Chosen One odds-on in the Herbie Dyke at Te Rapa next week.

But no matter he does this autumn, Baker already knows who tops his personal hit list.

"Dundeel was the best horse I've had, we have had," he says.

"He won six group ones and four as a three-year-old, that is something special.

"And Bonneval is the best of the girls.

"But I have been lucky to have some good ones and I have loved training them."