Cummings in iconic win
AN emotional James Cummings said his Victoria Derby winner Prized Icon will forever be dear to his heart after the superbly bred colt saluted in the Group 1 classic, making him a fourth-generation winner of the race.
In a race that has been about pedigree and breeding for more than 160 years, the Cummings family yesterday added yet another amazing chapter, 68 years after winning the race for the first time.
James Cummings, 28, who started out in a partnership with his famous grandfather Bart, scored the biggest win of his training career when Prized Icon ($17) sailed past the favourite Sacred Elixir ($2.70) to win the three-year-old classic by two-and-a-half lengths. The unlucky Inference ($9.5) was in third place.
“He will be close to my heart for the rest of my life, as my first Derby winner,” Cummings said after the race.
“He has been a model of consistency – he just continued to show such strength and the miles and miles of Cummings training have kicked in and now he has kicked away to win a Derby really convincingly.”
The tradition started with Cummings’ great-grandfather Jim Cummings, who won the race with Comic Court in 1948, a horse that went on to win the Melbourne Cup two years later.
His famous grandfather Bart, who died in August 2015, tasted success fives times in the race, with Dayana (1972), Taj Rossi (1973), Stormy Rex (1977), Bounty Hawk (1983) and Omnicorp (1987).
And his father, Anthony, who was on course yesterday with his own batch of horses, won the race four years ago with Fiveandahalfstar.
“I’m really proud, you just like to see your kids do well, and he is doing better than that,” Anthony Cummings said of his son.
Asked if James ever asked him for advice, he added: “he doesn’t need it – he knows his horses.”
James Cummings has always been buoyed by the advice and grounding he had received since his earliest days.
“I get a lot of confidence from the fact that my greatgrandfather starting training horses in 1911, so there is 100 years of horse racing in the family, and that knowledge gives us confidence,” James said.