Cummings doesn’t dare dream of Hartnell winning the Cup

James Cummings hasn’t dreamt of Hartnell winning the Melbourne Cup for fear of derailing an ambitious but unorthodox preparation.

Trainer James Cummings with his family during the Melbourne Cup Parade

James Cummings has not allowed himself to dream about what it would be like to taste Melbourne Cup success with Hartnell for fear of derailing an ambitious but unorthodox preparation.

It is understandable the $6.2 million race over 3200 metres means the world to Cummings, who assumed the reins as head trainer of Godolphin’s Australian operations earlier this year.

His great grandfather Jim trained Comic Court to win the 1950 Melbourne Cup, while the exploits of his grandfather Bart, who won it 12 times, are legendary.

“It means a little bit more to me because of the family tradition (and) it is the race with the greatest prestige in Australia all season and it has, certainly, a real grand final feel to it, so we are always privileged to be a part of it,” he said.

“(But) I really wouldn’t let myself think about it too much, because we just have to really ensure we think about our processes and ensure our horse Hartnell is as good as we can have him for the race.

“We are confident he can run well, so from that perspective we are proud to be here and have a horse ready to run in such good shape.”

Cummings began plotting a slightly unorthodox path with the Melbourne Cup top-weight in June, mindful of ensuring Hartnell peaked today but also making sure he dodged wonder mare Winx.

The seven-year-old had fallen short in Winx’s first two Cox Plate triumphs, though Hartnell demonstrated his versatility last year when he followed a second placing at Moonee Valley with a third in the Melbourne Cup behind Almandin and Heartbreak City.

Cummings has built in distance this campaign with the Authorized-Debonnaire gelding while not overtaxing Hartnell.

The trainer hopes his freshness will allow him to produce a burst of speed that would make him the third generation of Cummings to win a Melbourne Cup.

Part of the planning revolved around trying to mimic the preparation that led to Hartnell winning the Queen’s Vase over 3219m at Ascot in the United Kingdom in 2014.

Hartnell won first-up this campaign in a Group II over 1400m at Caulfield in August before running second to fellow Melbourne Cup aspirant Humidor in the Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington in September.

The Godolphin galloper then finished runner-up in the Group I Underwood Stakes over 1800m at Caulfield before running ninth at weight-for-age level in the Caulfield Stakes over 2000m almost three weeks ago.

“We have importantly got him here without having done any hard racing this preparation,” Cummings said. “We have tried to lay a platform as to what his trainer did back home when he won a two-mile stakes race with six weeks between runs and keep him really fresh.

“We are pleased with the response the horse has given us since we have taken that tack and whilst we are experimenting with that, I think we will get to see the results of that of course tomorrow.

“Certainly we are happy with the way he has responded to us back home in training.”

Jockey Damian Lane, who finished ninth in his first Melbourne Cup on Quest For Me in 2015 and seventh last year on Beautiful Romance, has faith in Cummings and expects the $26 chance to perform well.

“I think it is something we haven’t seen from local gallopers much, but I have sat on the horse twice last week and he is in great order and I have to trust James and what he is doing and I think the team has made the right call,” he said.