Bart Cummings Biography

James Bartholomew ‘Bart’ Cummings was an Australian race horse trainer who became a legend in his time creating a record of winning the famous ‘Melbourne Cup’ twelve times. He was one of the finest trainers of race horses in the world and trained the horses which stood first and second respectively in the 1965, 1966, 1974, 1975 and 1991 ‘Melbourne Cup’ races. He became an icon in Australian and world horse racing industry by winning more than a thousand races. Among them were 266 wins in Group 1 races, more than 763 wins in stakes, and winning the ‘Melbourne Cup’ twelve times, the ‘Cox Plate’ five times, the ‘Golden Slipper Stakes’ four times, the ‘Newmarket Handicap’ eight times and the ‘VRC Oaks’ nine times. He was considered as an ‘Australian National Living Treasure’ as long as he was alive. He was nicknamed the ‘Cups King’ for winning so many cups in horse races. He had a remarkable knowledge about horses and could read the capabilities of the animals by running his fingers over their bodies. It looked as if he was a horse-whisperer talking to the horses through his hands. He became the first horse trainer to have trained horses that had won more than a million dollars in prize money.