Who is the most successful trainer in the history of the Melbourne Cup?

Nicknamed 'The race that stops a nation', the Melbourne Cup is a Group 1 handicap run over 3,200 metres, or approximately two miles, at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria, traditionally on the first Tuesday in November. Boasting total prize money of $A8,000,000, or just over £4,000,000 at the current exchange rate, the Melbourne Cup is the most valuable race of its kind run anywhere in the world. As such, it is the highlight of the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington, which, in turn, is a central part of the thre-month Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

The Melbourne Cup was established in 1861 and the inaugural running was won by Archer, owned and trained by the legendary Etienne de Mestre, who would saddle the same horse to win again in 1862, as well as Tim Whiffler in 1867, Chester in 1877 and Calamia in 1878. Far and away the most successful trainer in the long, rich history of the Melbourne Cup, though, remains the late James Bartholomew Cummings, generally known as 'Bart' or 'J.B.', who saddled a total of 12 winners, with 43 years between the first and the last.

Born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia, Cummings began his training career in Glenelg, a suburb of the South Australian capital, in 1953. In 1968, he established stables in Flemington, by which time he had already won the Melbourne Cup three years running, with Light Fingers in 1965,

Galilee in 1966 and Red Handed in 1967. Later in his career, the 'Cups King', as he became known, also saddled Think Big (1974,1975), Gold and Black (1977), Hyperno (1979), Kingston Rule (1990), Let's Elope (1991), Saintly (1996), Rogan Josh (1999) and Viewed (2008). Cummins died at his home, Princes Farm in Castlereagh, New South Wales on August 30, 2015, at the age of 87. Such was his iconic status in his native land that his family was offered, and accepted, a state funeral.