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Bart Cummings

Birth and Nationality

Born on November 14, 1927, James Bartholomew Cummings, otherwise known as Bart Cummings, is one of Australia’s most popular racehorse trainers. He is the son of equally popular racehorse trainer James Martin Cummings. Bart was born and grew up in Glenelg, South Australia.

Early Life, Education, and Marriage

The young Bart, while schooling in Sacred Heart College, was also working as an assistant to his father in the family’s racing stable. His work in the stable taught him a lot, and he eventually became skilled in training racehorses.

He had his first involvement in Melbourne Cup in 1950 when he rode out Comic Court for his father. At the age of 26, Bart got his license that made him an official trainer of racehorses.� Bart Cummings was married to Valmae Cummings.

Career and Honors in Racehorse Training

Bart won his first Group 1 race in SAJC Derby in 1958, and he remained outstanding in horse racing since then. In 1965, with Light Fingers, Bart won his first Melbourne Cup. In the years 1955 and 1956, Bart achieved Training Premiership. It was also in 1956 when he won the 7 Group 1 Cups composed of Adelaide, Brisbane, Caulfield, Melbourne, Queensland, and Sandown Cup.

Apart from these achievements, he also trained ten racehorses in the years 1974 and 1975 for the 20 Group 1 races. Famous racehorses like Think Big, Leilani, and Lord Dudley, Dayana, Maybe Mahal, Beau Zam, Saintly, and Let’s Elope were trained by Bart Cummings.

He had won 32 Derbys, 24 Oaks, 7 Caulfied Cups, 4 Golden Slippers and 5 Cox Plates. This was not achieved by any other race horse trainer till then. As the Cups King, Bart was given honors from 1982 Order of Australia for his contribution in the racing industry and 1991 Sport of Australia Hall of Fame.