JUST LIKE BART DID
Grandson of legendary trainer flies the Aussie flag in this year’s Cup
IT used to be up to Bart but now it is his grandson, James Cummings carrying the hopes of a nation at Flemington tomorrow. Cummings prepares Avilius, rated the best hope of the locally-trained stayers to win the $7.3 million Melbourne Cup (3200m). The late, great Bart Cummings was the Melbourne Cup for many Australians, training an incredible 12 winners of the great race. He won his last Cup a decade ago when Viewed held off English stayer Bauer.
But many once-a-year punters will want to carry on the tradition of “backing Cummings” in the Cup and it is James’s stayer, Avilius trying to thwart the 10 northern hemisphere-trained stayers in tomorrow’s big race.
“I’m really happy with that horse,” said James Cummings, trainer of Avilius. “He’s casual, calm and thriving; he will be right on Tuesday.
“We gave him the lungburner he needed last start in the Cox Plate when he ran well for fourth to … Winx.
“With the preparation he has had, he gets every chance to run out the two miles (3200m); he’s perfect for his grand final.”
Irish stayer Yucatan remains a dominant Melbourne Cup favourite, albeit he has drifted from $4.20 on Saturday to $5 on TAB Fixed Odds.
Seven of the top eight in betting are overseas-trained with Avilius rated the best local hope at $13.
Cummings said the price assessors have got the Cup market right and didn’t hesitate when asked the rival he fears most tomorrow.
“It’s got to be Aidan (O’Brien) and Lloyd’s (Williams) horse, they have the right horse in Yucatan,” Cummings said.
“He is a stayer who is down in the weights, level with Avilius, but he has the turn of foot of a weight-for-age horse.
“Yucatan is the one we all have to beat in the Cup.”
Avilius, a French stayer who was sent Down Under and joined the Cummings stable, won his first four starts for the trainer before his solid Cox Plate effort.
“The pressure they put on in a Cox Plate is like no other,” Cummings said. “Although they crawled in the run to the winning post the first time, they really stepped it up and I think Avilius has taken what he needed out of the race.”