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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-09-08 Daily Xml
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Cummings, Mr Bart

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:20): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: It is with deep sadness and the greatest respect we pay tribute to an Australian racing legend, trainer Bart Cummings. James Bartholomew Cummings OAM passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of Sunday 30 August at his home in New South Wales at the age of 87. Our deepest sympathy is extended to his wife, Valmae; his son and fellow trainer, Anthony; his daughters Anne-Marie, Sharon and Margaret; and his 14 grandchildren, including his training partner James.

In a career spanning six decades, Bart Cummings trained the winning horses of almost 7,000 races. Amongst these were 760 stakes races and 268 group 1 winners, the Caulfield Cup which he won on seven occasions, the Newmarket Handicap which he won eight times, and the VRC Oaks which he won on nine occasions. Foremost in our memories though are his 12 victories in the Melbourne Cup, Australia's most prestigious and richest horse race. In the history of the Melbourne Cup, the next most successful trainer won five races more than 100 years ago.

Born in Adelaide in 1927, James Bartholomew Cummings spent his early years surrounded by racehorses. He learned about horses watching and listening to his father, a trainer of an earlier era famous for not sharing hard-earned knowledge and using instincts to understand and bring out the best in his racehorses. In 1974, Bart Cummings became the first trainer in the British commonwealth to train the earners of more than $1 million in prize money and he was announced as ABC's Sportsman of the Year.

In 1982, he was awarded the Order of Australia for services to racing and in 1988 became the first trainer to reach earnings of greater than $6 million in prize money. In 1990, he scored an unprecedented treble, topping the trainers' premierships in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

In 1991, Bart Cummings was an inaugural inductee into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. He was an inaugural inductee also into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. In 2004, the Victoria Racing Club made Bart Cummings a life member, the first trainer to be bestowed this honour. The 2,500 metre open handicap Melbourne Cup qualifying race was renamed The Bart Cummings Race by the Victoria Racing Club.

During his long and illustrious career as Australia's greatest trainer, Bart Cummings experienced trials and financial setbacks. In the 1990s he suffered an investment disaster which left him in debt of more than $10 million and would have been catastrophic for most. It is an indicator of Bart Cummings' strength of character that he brushed himself off and regrouped, going on to even more success. He said:

I still had my family and my health and my confidence in the future. I still had racing. All I lost was money. And I'd never been in it for the money.

A man born from an era of honour, meeting his commitments to others was an intrinsic element of Bart Cummings' character. Of training horses he said:

Be patient, feed them well, be kind to them, the same as you do with humans.

Bart Cummings represents the kind of Australian we all aspire to be—successful, genuine, trusted, great company and warmly regarded by all who knew him. Indeed, Bart Cummings was a person who mixed as easily with royalty and prime ministers as he did with strappers and punters down at the racetrack.

Bart Cummings was a man who lived his life well and who was loved by those whom he shared it with. In the days before he passed, Bart celebrated his 61st wedding anniversary at his home surrounded by his great loves—his family and his horses. On behalf of the government of South Australia and everyone in this place, we offer our condolences to the family of Bart Cummings and all who have felt the loss of this great Australian.

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