Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have had a long association with the racing industry and, of course, Bart Cummings has been around those discussions when talking about good times, when talking about good horses and when talking about good trainers. It is with great sadness that we say farewell to Bart Cummings, the cup's king. He will be remembered as a Titan for the industry, the greatest trainer this country has ever seen. The man was quick with a reply and so witty with his sayings. I remember once that a steward told Bart that he had too many flies around his stable. Bart replied: 'How many am I allowed? How many I supposed to have? Could you give me some indication?' That blew the steward away. He was always quick on his feet and quick with a reply.

Bart Cummings comes from a family of trainers. His father James trained Comic Court to win the 1950 Melbourne Cup. Bart was the strapper for that horse. Bart received his Australian licence in 1953 and set up his stables in Glenelg in South Australia. He had to wait five long years to get his first big win in the South Australian Derby, but from there he soared. He hit the big time in 1965. He won all his cup races in one year: the Melbourne Cup, the Adelaide Cup, the Caulfield Cup, the Sandown Cup, the Brisbane Cup and the Queen's Cup—a magnificent feat.

Barton crammed a lot of memories into his 87 years. One of the most memorable for me was the time his horse, Big Philou, was scratched from the 1969 Melbourne Cup. Bart had taken this horse to the Melbourne Cup with his team and had settled the horse into the stables and then, as a trainer does on a big day like the Melbourne Cup, he went off to socialise with some of his owners. He was only away from the horse about an hour when a strapper advised him that Big Philou had developed a scouring—and a bad scouring at that. The horse had been severely drugged by a large dose of laxatives. I believe Bart knew who was behind the scene of this crime, but with lack of evidence he could not press charges. Bart knew who it was all right, make no mistake about that.

Even though he led a charmed life, he hit hard times, like many did in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the recession. He bought a lot of horses as he did every year, some from New Zealand. But his team of owners had such bad times they could not pay Bart for the horses he had purchased on their behalf. This put Bart under a lot of financial pressure. But, as Bart was a fighter, he soon kicked back and won many more cups after that. His final Melbourne Cup win was with a horse called Viewed, back in 2008—exactly 50 years after entering his first Melbourne Cup starter. Twelve Melbourne Cups is a fantastic achievement—won by 11 horses. He had one horse called Think Big, who won two Melbourne Cups back in 1975 and '76. He had 268 group 1 winners—a fantastic achievement.

My condolences go to his wife Valmae and all the rest of the family. His son Anthony and grandsons James and Edward are following in Bart's footsteps. On the first Tuesday in November, I will be raising a toast to the memory of Bart Cummings—here, here to the cup king.

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