Winners and Losers

Just when the master Bart Cummings looks like being taken for granted, he returns to bite in the majors. With the modern-day super-stables of David Hayes and Lee Freedman flourishing with two-year-olds, Cummings, foaled in 1927 but with a silver sheen to his grey crop, produced another example of the training art with Mimi Lebrock in the Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast on Saturday. He left them scrambling for the crumbs with Husson Lightning (Hayes) and Royal Asscher (Freedman) being placed.

Not only does Cummings train horses to the highest pitch, but also horsemen. Advancing their equine education under him are John Thompson (grandson of Vic and son of Vic jnr, who established Crown Lodge for the Inghams), and a new foreman at Rosehill on Saturday, Tim Murphy (son of Lindsay, the Sydney Turf Club racecourse manager and brother of Patrick, the very capable apprentice).

Perhaps his most successful pupil, though, will be son Anthony, who promises to be a major opponent in the Golden Slipper. Maybe Mimi Lebrock left Anthony's Solo Flyer in her wake in the MM but Anthony has Danehill Smile fresh and rarin' to show that the decision she holds already over Mimi Lebrock was no fluke.