Cummings and Cadeaux

TWO greats of the Australian turf passed on this year, including Bart Cummings Having trained almost 7,000 winners, upwards of 760 stakes-winners, 268 Group 1 winners and 12 Melbourne Cup winners, Cummings is without peer in Australian racing. Over 60 years a trainer, his passing at age 87 left a rich legacy that was recognised globally, just as his dry one-liners were celebrated colloquially.

“Dad taught me everything I know,” quipped son Anthony after a big race win of his own. “Unfortunately he didn’t teach me everything he knows.”

Red Cadeaux

Not since Vintage Crop has an internationally-trained runner so affected the Australian and New Zealand racing public and unsurprisingly the only named barns at the international quarantine centre at Werribee honour Vintage Crop and Red Cadeaux.

The tragic aftermath of this year’s Emirates Melbourne Cup was the break-down of Ed Dunlop’s courageous nine-year-old. Denied by the barest of margins in the 2011 edition by Dunaden, Red Cadeaux would run second twice more and contest the race for a fifth and final time this year.

Tragedy strikes track-work riders

SEPARATE tragedies struck local racing with two young women losing their lives in early morning accidents. The track-work riders and ground staff are often the unsung heroes who are sometimes mentioned after triumphs.

At Caulfield this year Englishwoman Liz Rice lost her life and so too did German national Friederike Ruhle, both fell from horses whilst going about their normal routine.

Cobalt clouding integrity

COBALT has lingered in the headlines for nearly a year now challenging the integrity of racing. High profile positives in Victoria and New South Wales are in the process of, or have been, dealt with by stewards with trainers in New South Wales copping penalties of between two and 15 years to date. Clear through all this is that the tenacity of the stewards is unmatched.

Racing Victoria Chief Steward Terry Bailey had his house shot at a week before the Melbourne Cup but insisted on a business as usual approach.

Organised crime

Greater access to tele-communication information from the police is high on the stewards’ wish-list as the threat from organised crime and illegal offshore betting operators is not being underestimated. At present the stewards are seeking the nationwide implementation of the rule that would make it an offence for anyone bound by the rules of racing to place a wager with a non-approved betting operator.

Victorian Racing has gone a step further with the Office of Racing Integrity, an independent statutory body responsible for oversight of integrity within thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing, forging an alliance with International Centre for Sport Security, an international, not-for-profit organisation based in Doha, Qatar with a global mission to promote and protect the integrity and security of sport.