Latest news with #CarbineLodge
News.com.au
6 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
James Cummings prepares for move to train in Hong Kong with final Melbourne runners at Caulfield in the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes on Saturday
James Cummings is left only with a lifetime of Melbourne racing and training memories to cherish. The iconic Flemington stable, Carbine Lodge, has all but been emptied now, along with mantelpieces which proudly showcased Godolphin success under Cummings's watch. Only three horses remain in the yard, Kin, Inhibitions and Kallos, ahead of the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) on Saturday at Caulfield – his last runners in Melbourne. Cummings, in Sydney on Saturday to saddle two at Randwick, cannot pack into boxes what is going to be missed the most before a move to train in Hong Kong next year. Flemington, the racecourse and its people – most importantly the loyal Carbine Lodge team but also resident trainers and participants alike, past and present. 'I'll miss the team, a really amazing team that have been assembled and developed a great passion for the horses,' Cummings said. 'They see the horses leave, they're horses that they love … it bubbles a bit of emotion to the surface. 'Seeing that makes you appreciate that even more … missing the team will be the biggest thing. 'We've had really lovely pedigrees, outstanding horses come through the stable, but you know, the horses do come and go. 'The longevity of people that have been here to see the ebbs and flows of the stable … we cherish that … and so that makes it particularly difficult.' Cummings shared a moment with Reg Fleming on Wednesday night in Melbourne. Fleming, who served as foreman for Cups King Bart Cummings, has been a mainstay at Flemington. 'I've always been in his orbit in a way, whether it's growing up from afar in Sydney,' Cumming said. 'His relationship and devotion really to my grandfather and then being a colleague of his … Reg and a number of other staff have been around a long time.' Cummings has upheld a family tradition for top-class success in Melbourne, particularly Flemington. Cummings has saddled 13 of 52 Group 1 wins at Flemington including three Newmarket Handicaps, two Australian Cups, two VRC Oaks and the Victoria Derby before the successful Godolphin chapter. Cummings's father Anthony (Oaks and Derby) and older brother Edward (Australian Cup) boast top class Flemington honours. Bart's deeds remain peerless – 13 Australian Cups, 12 Melbourne Cups, 11 Mackinnon (Champions) Stakes, nine VRC Oaks and eight Newmarket Handicaps among others. 'It's been a very special place to our family,' Cummings said. 'To say it's been a privilege to train here is an understatement really, it truly has been a privilege and more. 'The trophies, that are not quite in the mantelpieces anymore as they've been boxed up, but it's more than just the trophies to show for those great results here. 'There are amazing pedigrees that have been updated and improved by those results, stallions at stud, stallions on the roster, broodmares at stud … and great memories.' Cummings has always held the Flemington mounting yard in the highest esteem. 'The theatre there and the drama and club feel,' Cummings said. 'To think back to those times (big race days), the place looks amazing and it feels like a very privileged place to be, in the thick of the action. 'I'd say that mounting yard encapsulates … everything about Flemington, doesn't it, everything's done well, and plenty of space, and it's a great cauldron, a great test for a horse, as much as it's a cauldron it's spacious. 'There's pressure and everyone's there and you know, the competition couldn't be much stronger … lucky to be a part of it.' Cox Plate success in 2022 with Anamoe at The Valley stamped Cummings's own legacy and avenged a contentious defeat the previous year, a benefit arguably in hindsight. Anamoe was second past the post by a hair margin in the 2021 but sustained interference from Irish raider and Cox Plate winner State Of Rest. Stewards dismissed the high-stakes protest after submissions from all parties. 'In a funny way, it probably opened up his entire four-year-old career because he had something to come back to prove and we got to see so much more of him as a result,' Cummings said. 'If you can remain upbeat and circumspect about those things that just go against you a little bit you give yourself the opportunity to make good and he got his chance for retribution. 'Everybody is better off as a consequence and he set himself up beautifully for the next phase of his career.' • Shinn tightens grips on jockeys' title at Sandown Cummings confirmed the personal and professional importance of a Melbourne spring major Cox Plate. 'I'd won a Slipper and Doncaster in Sydney, very important to get a major in Melbourne … you don't get too many opportunities at those sorts of races,' Cummings said. 'That was an amazing day (2022 Cox Plate) and an amazing race to look back on … it gave the entire team a huge uplift … imagine that day, the next day, next few weeks, people walking out in blue (Godolphin) jackets being congratulated for the feats of that champion horse. 'It's important to celebrate your wins … as much as you resist feeling the difficult days too much, it's inevitable you will still feel the disappointments and those feelings are bitter feelings. 'If you can, I think, without getting carried away, balance that out with celebrating big days. I think that's really proved to be a really good recipe for team culture and your longevity at that level.' Cummings has to keep winning races next year in Hong Kong, if nothing else but to appease his and wife Monica's four children under 10. 'They think I've got hundreds of trophies,' Cummings laughed. 'That's their view of (racing) seeing the trophies come home, but they're probably a bit young, the oldest is 10, so a bit on the younger side to be fully immersed in the ins and outs of the industry. 'Show and tell has been good for the five year old. She's enjoyed taking the odd trophy in. 'There's a few trophies stashed away in drawers as well as on display (at home) … but they'll have to be packed away. I can't take them all.'
Sydney Morning Herald
7 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘We are looking to go 50-50': Ciaron Maher eyes bigger slice of Sydney riches
Ciaron Maher will aim to split his massive team more evenly across Victoria and NSW next season as he chases more wins in the rich Sydney racing scene. And he hopes the likes of Sacred Rocks and Hi Dubai, which race at Randwick on Saturday, can lead the early charge. Maher's stable last week became the first to win more than $60 million in prizemoney in a season and is closing out a third consecutive Australian trainers' premiership, with 322.5 winners before Thursday's meetings. Chris Waller was second on 270. The Victorian has built the amazing success largely on performances in his home state, but his reach in NSW is set to grow with the move of his Sydney stable from Warwick Farm to Leilani Lodge at Randwick. The larger stable, together with existing arms of his operation at Bong Bong Farm in the Southern Highland and Bobs Farm in the Hunter, are part of Maher's ambition to expand and increase his winning totals in NSW. 'There's about 20 extra stables, but we sort of alternate,' Maher said of the difference between his Warwick Farm stables and Leilani Lodge, which is still being renovated. 'We have up to 200 at Ballarat but that fluctuates, and all the other stables stay full. But we own that joint, so that's why we can do that. We haven't sort of changed for about two or three seasons now, so it's always just consolidate. 'We are looking to go 50-50. We are sort of 60-40 with Victoria at the moment, but 50-50 with Sydney has been the aim for a couple of years.' Maher has 84.5 winners in NSW, with 48 in town, this season. Those numbers are dwarfed by Waller's. The Rosehill trainer, who is upgrading his Flemington operation with a move into Godolphin's Carbine Lodge, has 182 and 140 wins respectively in NSW and metro will secure a 15th consecutive Sydney trainers' premiership. The expansion of Maher's operations, though, raises the question of whether he can one day challenge Waller's reign in Sydney.
The Age
7 days ago
- Business
- The Age
‘We are looking to go 50-50': Ciaron Maher eyes bigger slice of Sydney riches
Ciaron Maher will aim to split his massive team more evenly across Victoria and NSW next season as he chases more wins in the rich Sydney racing scene. And he hopes the likes of Sacred Rocks and Hi Dubai, which race at Randwick on Saturday, can lead the early charge. Maher's stable last week became the first to win more than $60 million in prizemoney in a season and is closing out a third consecutive Australian trainers' premiership, with 322.5 winners before Thursday's meetings. Chris Waller was second on 270. The Victorian has built the amazing success largely on performances in his home state, but his reach in NSW is set to grow with the move of his Sydney stable from Warwick Farm to Leilani Lodge at Randwick. The larger stable, together with existing arms of his operation at Bong Bong Farm in the Southern Highland and Bobs Farm in the Hunter, are part of Maher's ambition to expand and increase his winning totals in NSW. 'There's about 20 extra stables, but we sort of alternate,' Maher said of the difference between his Warwick Farm stables and Leilani Lodge, which is still being renovated. 'We have up to 200 at Ballarat but that fluctuates, and all the other stables stay full. But we own that joint, so that's why we can do that. We haven't sort of changed for about two or three seasons now, so it's always just consolidate. 'We are looking to go 50-50. We are sort of 60-40 with Victoria at the moment, but 50-50 with Sydney has been the aim for a couple of years.' Maher has 84.5 winners in NSW, with 48 in town, this season. Those numbers are dwarfed by Waller's. The Rosehill trainer, who is upgrading his Flemington operation with a move into Godolphin's Carbine Lodge, has 182 and 140 wins respectively in NSW and metro will secure a 15th consecutive Sydney trainers' premiership. The expansion of Maher's operations, though, raises the question of whether he can one day challenge Waller's reign in Sydney.
