Latest News

By Ray Hickson

Behind the juggernaut that has been the Bjorn Baker stable is a man who lets no detail go unchecked and wants his hand on every horse in his care.

It’s a stark contrast to the larrikin show the trainer puts on for the camera – as genuine as the joy he takes in winning races is – and one of the reasons he’s just had his best season, cementing himself as one of Sydney’s leading trainers.

That’s the insight from Luke Hilton and Glen Lobb – two familiar faces to punters and participants alike among a team of around 50 behind the scenes – who have seen the emergence of the stable from different angles.

They’ve both had long, but unique, associations with Baker and neither see what’s unfolded in the past 12 months as particularly surprising. More confirmation what they’re doing is effective.

“Bjorn is good to work for, it’s a very different person at work than you see celebrating at the races,’’ Hilton, Baker’s racing manager, said.

“He’s one of the most business minded people I’ve ever worked with, he has great attention to detail, he’s dedicated, he’s punctual. He beats me there every morning.

Bjorn Baker's right hand men Luke Hilton and Glen Lobb (Pic: Bradley Photos).

“I’ve learned more from him in business than anyone I’ve been involved with.

“Bjorn says it all the time, it’s been like a dream. It hasn’t been as surprising to us from the inside as we’ve always seen something like this coming.

“It’s taken time to work toward, and it’s all come to fruition this year.”

This man being described is the Bjorn Baker who shamelessly bounces around, embracing connections and fist-pumping, after winning a midweek race in town. Let alone the commotion when he won the prestigious Doncaster Mile and Sydney Cup during the Star Championships.

The man who trots out the stable’s website address when he’s interviewed post-race, selling the experience he’s living. And it’s believable.

“He’ll have a laugh at the stable and he gets a real big kick out of winning races anywhere,’’ Lobb said.

“It’s a bit contagious. I love it, I go off my head now like him at the races.

“I wouldn’t want to be in it if I wasn’t that excited and driven to win races. It’s not like a job to me.”

When Lobb, 65, first met Bjorn Baker he was training a very small team compared to the numbers and success that saw 100 winners in town for the season become a real possibility at one point as he finished second behind Chris Waller in the trainer’s premiership.

Lobb, who now acts as race day logistics manager, was a standardbred trainer at nearby Condell Park and a friend of his bought into a horse with Baker. That was over 12 years ago and it began an enduring friendship.

“I loved the thoroughbreds more than anything so I gave harness racing away and stuck on there,’’ he said.

“I wasn’t really up to speed with gallopers to be foreman at the time but I eventually became a foreman and started going to the races and saddling up.

“We bought the trucks between us and we’re doing all our own transport and I’m in charge of all the horse movements now, whether they’re going for a spell or to the races.

“When I was first there he had 15 to 20 and now we’re working about 127 and we’ve probably got 40 or 50 pre-training and the yearlings coming in.

“It’s been a nice gradual progression rather than trying to do everything at once.”

It’s interesting to discover that Hilton, 41, sought out experience with Baker prior to becoming a trainer himself, training a small team out of Hawkesbury then Gosford until 2020.

“We’ve been friends a long time. When I was wanting to train horses I used to go in and follow him around, learning the processes and learning what he does,’’ he said.

“I did that for two months before I took out my trainer’s license and trained part time. It went to the next level and I tried to make a go of it, we went okay with a decent strike rate in the country and a few city runners.

“It was very tough, I got to about 25 horses in work. The opportunity came up to transition away from training but still be involved in the game and that’s how I went into jockey management.”

Yes, prior to joining Baker as racing manager in 2022 he was a jockey manager for the likes of Chad Lever, Jenny Duggan, and Dylan Gibbons (in the early days of his apprenticeship) which he says strengthened his association with the stable.

Bjorn Baker celebrates Stefi Magnetica's Doncaster Mile win with jockey Jason Collet (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Hilton is also a qualified PE teacher and after finishing university he spent around six years working for his uncle managing pubs in Sydney, most notably the Quakers Inn and the Winston Hills Hotel.

He’s been married to jockey Rachel King for over a year and they shared a memorable moment when she steered Arapaho to a Group 1 win at The Star Championships.

“It was a massive feat to get him to win the Sydney Cup,’’ he said.

“He was pretty sick at one time and we didn’t think we’d get him back.

“It was fitting for the horse and the ownership group. We lost one of the owners, Paul Griffin, who I was very close to. He coached me in footy. And to have Rach ride the horse as well.”

The big question as 2025/26 dawns is how does Bjorn Baker continue to build upon such a breakout season?

In the previous 12 months, Baker prepared 104 winners nation-wide including 46 in Sydney to place him equal fifth in the premiership.

That’s ballooned to well over 150 across the country and he’s basically doubled his Sydney winners with a strike rate of around 20 per cent.

Given what both Lobb and Hilton have experienced it’s quite possible that Baker has something up his sleeve to go to a new level again, and they’re particularly encouraged by the young stock coming through.

“Bjorn is very touch point, he knows every horse and where they are and what’s in the stable,’’ Hilton said.

“He hasn’t been keen to venture out into satellite stables because he doesn’t like to lose those touch points.

“We’ve always been up there in the top four or five in the metro trainers list but getting those big winners in the carnival was something we strived for.

“Now we’ve had some big-time winners which has been a pleasing thing. It was a monkey off our back and hopefully we can go on from that.

“It’s going to be hard to replicate but we’ve got better stock coming through, our sales team has done an amazing job, and it’s about maintaining that level we’re at.”

*This article originally appeared in the August 2025 edition of the Racing NSW magazine

Racing NSW - your home of live racing, form, tips and the latest news.