Baker not dissimilar to the great Bart

THERE is a touch of Bart Cummings in Murray Baker, who wanders around after winning Group I’s like he has nothing better to do.

It was a phrase coined by the incomparable racing scribe Les Carlyon, who said Bart would shuffle down the steps of the famous Flemington owners’ stand after winning another Melbourne Cup and wonder what all the fuss was about.

What else would he be doing if he wasn’t training racehorses?

Baker’s modus operandi is like Bart never left us. He trudges up towards the winner’s enclosure and is circled by reporters and photographers - and trades as many words as you would imagine he would with his local newsagent upon picking up the morning papers, the same rags you reckon he would never scan to see what was written about him.

As Hugh Bowman - who careered to a fourth Australian Oaks win in the last nine years and second in as many years on New Zealand fillies - finally found Baker after Bonneval’s romp, the pair just swapped handshakes.

A couple of simple ‘‘well dones’’. Posing for photos was about the most awkward thing they would have done all day, it seemed. Racing is business for the pair whose business is all about winning. Regularly.

The fact both usually give very little away should have been a sign that Bonneval, the New Zealand Oaks winner, was never going to be beat in the A$1 million race at Randwick on Saturday.

Especially after Bowman spoke glowingly of the filly on Thursday when all anyone wanted to ask him about was Winx.

And seven days after snaring the Australian Derby with Jon Snow, Baker and his training partner Andrew Forsman never had a cause for concern in the fillies classic as Bonneval raced away to beat Perfect Rhyme by a widening four-and-a-half lengths with Victoria Oaks winner Lasqueti Spirit gripping on in third.

But it is still hard to know what Baker actually thinks of the filly.

Comparison to the Derbywinning colt Jon Snow? ‘‘I don’t know.’’

Spring plans? ‘‘I haven’t really thought about it.’’

What we do know though is Baker has become pretty damn good at winning Australian Group I’s.