10-08-2025
Former champion jockey Larry Cassidy has taken on a mentoring role for apprentice Chelsea Baker
Like a golfer diagnosed with paralysis by analysis, apprentice jockey Chelsea Baker admits she needs to simplify her approach to racing.
But she couldn't have much better mentors in Brisbane's top trainer Tony Gollan and former champion jockey Larry Cassidy.
Baker celebrated her 24th birthday on Saturday with her first ride in the city, finishing fifth out of eight runners on the John Thomas -trained Expectant in a Benchmark 78 (1400m) won by Gollan's Free Carry at Eagle Farm.
The Tasmanian hoop then travelled west to Toowoomba where she had another four rides, steering gelding Einstag to victory in a 3YO Maiden for local trainer Michael Nolan.
'She's coming along really well,' Baker's boss Gollan said.
'Larry Cassidy is mentoring and coaching her now and she's making really good advancements with that.
'She's a terrific person. Over this next month there's a few things that Larry and her will iron out and she'll come here with a valuable 3kg (claim).'
Free Carry shoulders the load first-up and gets the win at Eagle Farm! ðŸ'° @emilyyplang @tonygollan @BrisRacingClub
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) August 9, 2025
Baker said she was working to keep things simple when racing, conceding she was 'a month or two away from being really competitive' in Brisbane.
'My head is one of my worst attributes,' she said. 'At times I tend to overanalyse and overthink things but there could be worse things to have as a negative trait.
'My major goal is to ride the metro scene and be competitive. I don't care too much about titles, I just want people to say 'gee that girl can ride'.
'I'd rather be told that I've ridden the horse well and given it every chance than have the horse do it for me.'
As a champion jockey who won more than 40 Group 1s in his glittering career, Cassidy is the ideal mentor for Baker, whose parents Kylie and Barry are trainers in Tasmania.
Cassidy won the Sydney jockeys' premiership for three consecutive seasons from 1997/98 to 1999/00, and partnered champion mare Sunline to six victories, including two Group 1s in the Flight Stakes and the Doncaster Handicap in 1999.
He famously rode Winx in the 2015 Group 3 Sunshine Coast Guineas (now Winx Guineas) to kickstart the mighty mare's record 33-race winning streak.
Baker said she drew inspiration from the rapid rise of fellow female jockeys Angela Jones and Emily Lang, who fought tooth and nail for the 2024/25 Brisbane jockeys' premiership, with Jones ultimately prevailing.
'Emily and Ang, they're not only good jockeys but they're really good people too,' Baker said.
'They're definitely jockeys who I look up to and aspire to be like.
'They're very cool, calm and collected in the way they carry themselves and that's something I definitely need to work on myself.
'They're absolute inspirations and the effort they put in behind the scenes, it's really great.'
Baker's parents flew up from Tasmania to help celebrate her birthday and although they have been major influences in her career, she doesn't lean on them too much for advice.
'I try not to get too involved, otherwise we butt heads a little bit, especially me and Dad,' she said.
'But they've taught me everything I know and they've got me to the point where I can come up here (to Brisbane) so I'm forever grateful to them.'
