Racing Confidential: James Cummings follows the Bart blueprint with Zardozi in 2024 Melbourne Cup

Godolphin trainer James Cummings is borrowing a formula made famous by his legendary grandfather as he prepares Zardozi for Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.

Godolphin trainer James Cummings is borrowing from “Bart’s Blueprint” with Zardozi in the $8.5 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on Tuesday.

Cummings gave Zardozi the traditional Derby Day lead-up to the Cup with the mare finishing an encouraging fifth behind Atishu in the Empire Rose Stakes.

Zardozi will go to the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday after six starts this spring over a total “race” distance of 11,400m.

The legendary Bart Cummings, the grandfather of James, will always be remembered for his 12 Melbourne Cup wins and the formula he developed to win the nation’s great race.

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Known as the “Cups King”, Cummings had a tried and proven method for the Melbourne Cup that stood the test of time that included:

■ Up to seven six preparatory races during the spring into the Melbourne Cup.

■ These races needed to have an aggregate distance of at least 10,000m.

■ A final lead-up run on Derby Day.

Most of Bart’s record 12 Melbourne Cup winners followed this program with Light Fingers (1965), Galilee (1966), Red Handed (1976), Think Big (175), Gold And Black (1977), Hyperno (1979), Let’s Elope (1991), Rogan Josh (1999) and Viewed (2008) all contesting the Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) three days before the Cup.

Cummings’ other Cup winners, Think Big (1974) and Kingston Rule (1990) ran over 2500m in the Hotham (now Archer Stakes) Handicap on Derby Day.

Champion Saintly (1996) was the only exception to “Bart’s Blueprint” as he won the Cox Plate and then the Melbourne Cup.

Other trainers copied Cummings’ formula and during a 20-year period from 1975, no fewer than 17 Melbourne Cup winners raced on Derby Day.

But with the internationalization of the Melbourne Cup in 1993 when the great Irish stayer Vintage Crop scored a historic win, the race was changed forever.

Since Vintage Crop, only five Melbourne Cup winners ran on Derby Dan and none since Shocking in 2009.

• Francesca Cumani’s 2024 Melbourne Cup tips

Then, the Victoria Racing Club moved the Mackinnon Stakes to the final day of Cup week, renaming it the Champions Stakes, and this year also shifted the Archer Stakes to earlier in the spring.

This leaves Derby Day without a traditional Melbourne Cup lead-up race. Even the clause that gave the Victoria Derby winner automatic entry into the Cup was removed years ago.

But James Cummings hasn’t forgotten how his grandfather shaped Melbourne Cup preparations for decades and gave Zardozi a final lead-up run on Derby Day.

“Zardozi has pulled up perfectly and she is primed to run a big race on Tuesday,’’ Cummings said on Sunday.

“If that race had been 2000m, I think she would have been right in the finish.

“I believe having that run on Saturday gives her the best chance to run out the two miles of the Cup.’’

What a race!

The Group 1 TAB Champions Stakes goes to ATISHU in an epic edition over the 2000m.

📽 @10SportAU | #StakesDaypic.twitter.com/itdXp6YU4F

— Victoria Racing Club (@FlemingtonVRC) November 11, 2023

• Clinton Payne’s 2024 Melbourne Cup tips, runner-by-runner form assessment

Cummings worked alongside his famous grandfather for a number of years and that has had an influence on his training regime.

“I worked with him, worked alongside him, and that can’t help but have an impact on the way you view training or a horse’s preparations in the longer term,’’ he said.

“We’re up against it, there’s no doubt about that. Our little mare has to rise to the occasion and has to find a way.

“If we’re a chance to beat them (European imports) we need to beat them at our game, not theirs.

“While they’re capable of going into races with many weeks off – some horses have won a Melbourne Cup with months off – our horses are not the same.’’

Zardozi has been effective on the quick back-up before, coming off a second placing in the Wakeful Stakes last year before winning the VRC Oaks five days later.

“She ran a slashing race in the Wakeful and back-up with one of her ‘PB’s’ in the Oaks and I can picture her doing something similar on Tuesday,’’ Cummings said.

• Michelle Payne’s 2024 Melbourne Cup tips

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HERE’S another interesting statistic. The last VRC Oaks winner to return as a four-year-old was when Light Fingers gave Bart Cummings his first Melbourne Cup win in 1965.

James Cummings is attempting to win his first Melbourne Cup on Tuesday with Zardozi, the Oaks winner from last year.

• Is Zardozi the forgotten Melbourne Cup horse?

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IRISH trainer Willie Mullins is doing things his way as he prepares Vauban and Absurde for the Melbourne Cup.

When Vauban lines up on Tuesday, it will 51 days since he last raced when he chased home champion stayer Kyprios in the Irish St Leger.

Absurde is the only horse in Tuesday’s 24-horse field to have had a longer gap between runs – it’s will be 66 days since he won the Chester Stakes.

The record for most days between runs is Godolphin’s Cross Counter who went 76 days from a second placing in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at England’s York racecourse to winning the 2018 Melbourne Cup.

Trainer Willie Mullins was at Werribee to check up on Vauban and Absurde and gave an update on their progress.

🎥 via @gilbertgardinerpic.twitter.com/biWbYnXIf1

— Racenet (@RacenetTweets) October 23, 2024

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FOR those punters who like to back horses that are grey in colour, there are only two in the Melbourne Cup field – Valiant King and Saint George.

Since the Melbourne Cup was first run in 1861, only six greys have won the race and only one this century – Efficient (2007).

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AN analysis of the Listed $3 million The Big Dance field at Royal Randwick on Tuesday reveals the 20-horse field is made up of 17 geldings who are aged five or older, plus two mares and one entire.

Ducasse is the only entire and at four years of age, he’s also the youngest horse in the Big Dance field.

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WHAT THEY SAID

“Buckaroo is the form horse. He has come through his Caulfield Cup run really well. We took Land Legend to Bendigo for a gallop during the week to knock a bit of freshness out of him. Kovalica has to run two miles but we know Valiant King will stay. Manzoice is a bit out of form but this is the Melbourne Cup and sometimes you have to take your chances,’’ said trainer Chris Waller.

“Chris still gets up at 3am every day and works all day. I don’t know how he does it but he makes time for everyone. Racing’s a rollercoaster, you have your ups and downs, but he never changes. He’s just a really good person and when he gets home at night, he’s just your normal husband and father,’’ said Waller’s wife, Stephanie.

“It was a surreal moment for me but as soon as Attractable crossed the line, there was 300 cameras in my face. Then at 3am the next day, I was at the stables cleaning boxes and getting ready for the (barrier) trials,’’ said Sara Ryan after winning the Big Dance with Attractable last year. She has Money From The Sky in Tuesday’s Randwick race.

“This race has been 11 months in the planning with Tavi Time. He goes to The Big Dance third run in with a mile run under his belt. I’m happy with his preparation and although this is a very tough race, I feel he is up to this level. I think Tavi Time profiles like a Randwick mile type of horse,’’ trainer Kris Lees said.

“I’ve never been superstitious about the Melbourne Cup but Damien Oliver reminded me last year, ‘you don’t touch the Cup’, I think he knows a thing or two. I just didn’t listen to it, it’s the Cup, I’ll hold it and take photos with it. This is the first year I decided, Damien Oliver said it was unlucky and I didn’t believe him, to try something new and I haven’t touched it. I’m very superstitious, so hopefully that means I can win the Cup,’’ said jockey Jamie Kah, who rides Okita Soushi.

“It could be their year this year. Willie Mullins is an absolute genius. He’s able to do phenomenal things and his owner Rich Ricci is a larger than life character. It would be great scenes if they were able to win. He’s (Vauban) definitely my pick of the internationals. I’m not completely off Absurde – he could still run a good race,’’ said Francesca Cumani.

“This race was always in the back of my mind depending on how he came back this spring. Over a mile at Randwick, it is Ducasse’s best distance and track but unfortunately, yet again, he has managed to draw a horrible barrier (19). He is going to need a lot of luck from where he is drawn but he’s in great order and I think he is well weighted in that race,’’ said trainer Michael Freedman.

“Just Fine’s a funny horse. He went to Caulfield (in the Cup) and spat the dummy and ran shockingly, then he came to the Valley and spat the dummy and ran the same way. You put him at Flemington, you put him at Randwick, the bigger tracks – I don’t know what it is – but he just seems happier,’’ said trainer Gai Waterhouse.

Originally published as Racing Confidential: James Cummings follows the Bart blueprint with Zardozi in 2024 Melbourne Cup