Bart Cummings Dies

Legendary Australian trainer Bart Cummings, whose accomplishments include a record 12 G1 Melbourne Cup wins, has died at age 87. Cummings’s son, trainer Anthony Cummings, confirmed the news on Twitter early Sunday Australian time, saying “Dad died peacefully in his sleep early this morning, surrounded by his family. He lived a full life.” Cummings’s grandson James, whom he trained in partnership with since 2013 until the time of his death, released a statement that read, “His final moments were spent with his family and wife of 61 years, Valmae, with whom he celebrated their anniversary on Friday. For Bart, this was a fitting end. A husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather; a master trainer and a larger than life figure. We will miss you.”

Cummings the Cups King…

James Bartholomew “Bart” Cummings was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1927. As the son of successful trainer Jim Cummings he was exposed to racing from day one, and one of his earliest tastes of Melbourne Cup glory was when he groomed Comic Court, trained by his father to win the great staying race in 1950.

Cummings took out his training license three years later, setting up in South Australia, and he won his first Group 1–and saddled his first Melbourne Cup starter–in 1958. Cummings would have to wait until 1965 to taste victory in the Flemington feature, however, but he did so in a big way, training the first of his five exactas in the Melbourne Cup that year when Light Fingers beat Ziema across the line. Cummings also earned his first training championship that year.

Cummings stamped his authority on the Melbourne Cup the next two years, winning in 1966 with Galilee–who became the first horse to win the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Sydney Cup in the same year–and 1967 with Red Handed. The following year Cummings opened his Flemington satellite, Saintly Lodge Stables. He got off to a fast start, winning the training championship in Victoria–as well as South Australia–that year, a double he would repeat in 1969 and 1970.

At the same time as training titles were becoming the norm for Cummings, he went through his first Melbourne Cup “dry spell”; he didn’t taste victory in the ‘race that stops a nation’ for seven years–a long wait by his standards–but soon fired off a quick quartet of

scores with Think Big (1974 and 1975), Gold and Black (1977) and Hyperno (1979). In the midst of this streak, in 1975, Cummings moved his base to Leilani Lodge near Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. That year, he trained 10 different horses to win 20 Group 1 races. Cummings trained from Leilani Lodge up until his death, including most recently in partnership with his grandson James.

Cummings embarked on another Melbourne Cup assault in the 1990s, scoring in 1990 with Kingston Rule, Let’s Elope the following year, Saintly in 1996 and Rogan Josh in 1999. His final Cup score came courtesy Viewed in 2008. Cummings came agonizingly close to making it a baker’s dozen in the Cup in 2010, when So You Think (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}) finished third behind Americain (Dynaformer) under second-top weight three days after taking the G1 Mackinnon S., and 10 days after winning his second Cox Plate. So You Think would go on to win a further five Group 1 races in Europe after being purchased by Coolmore. Cummings’s final Group 1 winner was Hallowed Crown (Aus) (Street Sense), who took the G1 Golden Rose S. nearly a year ago and added the G1 Randwick Guineas in March.

Multidimensional…

While Cummings’s greatest legacy is his Melbourne Cup haul, he was far from a one-dimensional handler, training four winners of the G1 Golden Slipper, 32 Derby winners, five G1 Cox Plate winners, 24 Oaks winners and seven Caulfield Cup winners. Cummings was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2001.

Cummings’s recognition and accolades extend beyond the realm of racing. He was given the Order of Australia in 1982 for his contribution to and promotion of racing, and in 1991 he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. (Click here to watch a video produced by the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame to commemorate Cummings’s induction.)

Each of these accolades were well earned by the way of more than 758 stakes winners and 266 Group 1 wins–second only to fellow Hall of Famer TJ Smith–including 12 Melbourne Cups, seven more than the next most-winning trainer. Cummings’s final winner came yesterday at Rosehill courtesy the 3-year-old filly Sultry Feeling (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}), who sent her handler out in his rightful place on top.