An animal lover from childhood, Reade Baker first landed at the racetrack in the summer of 1965 as a swing groom for Windfields Farm. The Port Dalhousie, ON-born Baker worked for trainer Pete McCann who had a Windfields string at Fort Erie.
Baker worked his way through the industry selling horse insurance and then becoming a successful jockey agent, guiding the career of top rider Gary Stahlbaum.
In the 1980s, he was hired to manage the racing and breeding stable of Richard Kennedy and in 1987 was instrumental in leading the owner’s Mr. Prospector colt Afleet to a Horse of the Year campaign. Afleet flew through stakes victories at Woodbine and then flaunted his dazzling speed in winning the Grade 1 Jerome Stakes at Belmont and the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby.