THE BART CUMMINGS
BY ANDREW LEMON
B art Cummings is a name always spoken in the same breath as ‘The Melbourne Cup’. Seventy years ago, Bart Cummings (1927-2015) first stepped into the Flemington mounting yard on Melbourne Cup Day. The young man was working as strapper for the 1950 Cup winner Comic Court, trained by his father, Jim. Fifteen years later, Bart returned as winning trainer in his own right, with the quinella of Light Fingers and Ziema. The next year he
repeated the success, with Galilee and Light Fingers. In 1967 with Red Handed, Bart became the first trainer to win three successive Cups. Soon the press
Bart Cummings. Source: VRC Collection
were calling him the Cups’ King, and he earned it. He added Think Big to the winners’ roll (twice, 1974, 1975) followed by Gold and Black (1977) and Hyperno (1979). Seven winners as trainer was unprecedented. Then came Kingston Rule (1990), Let’s Elope (1991) and the horse he bred himself, Saintly (1996). Rogan Josh (1999) was the eleventh, Viewed (2008) the twelfth and last of them, as Bart turned 81. The VRC introduced ‘The Bart Cummings’ race to Turnbull Stakes Day in 2002. Fittingly, the winner now is guaranteed a start in the Lexus Melbourne Cup.
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