Australia's most remarkable trainer Bart Cummings has capped a most remarkable season with Russeting's victory in the Winter Stakes.A new acquisition to the stable, Russeting's win in the final Group One race of the season at Eagle Farm on Saturday gave Cummings his fourth elite success for 2008-09 and his 253rd overall.Cummings' kicked off his Group One roll days before his 81st birthday when Viewed gave him his 12th Melbourne Cup.Swick followed in the Patinack Farm Classic, Roman Emperor won t
Australia's most remarkable trainer Bart Cummings has capped a most remarkable season with Russeting's victory in the Winter Stakes.
A new acquisition to the stable, Russeting's win in the final Group One race of the season at Eagle Farm on Saturday gave Cummings his fourth elite success for 2008-09 and his 253rd overall.
Cummings' kicked off his Group One roll days before his 81st birthday when Viewed gave him his 12th Melbourne Cup.
Swick followed in the Patinack Farm Classic, Roman Emperor won the AJC Australian Derby in the autumn and Russeting came up with the goods in the winter.
"If she hadn't won, it would have been the first time in 50 years I hadn't had a winner at the Brisbane carnival," Cummings said.
The late TJ Smith holds the Australian record of 282 Group One wins and Cummings hasn't given up the chase.
"I'll give it a shake," he said.
"The margin is decreasing with time. He can't improve, but I can."
Formerly trained at Toowoomba by Don Baker, Russeting was bought by Adam Mackrell for $300,000 at the recent Magic Millions broodmare sale to join his family's Bell View Park Stud in the NSW Southern Highlands.
But Cummings is hoping she can still be a part of his spring team.
"She is a lovely little mare and I'd like to give her a freshen up and race her in the spring," Cummings said.
"The plan is to put her to stud this year. I'll discuss it with her new owners over the next few days."
Russeting won the Winter Stakes (1400m) by a length from Prima Nova, a mare prepared by Cummings' son Anthony.
With Anthony Cummings on an overseas holiday, his son James is holding down the fort at home.
Prima Nova's defeat gave him a taste of what his father and many other trainers have been experiencing for years.
"I told James in the morning Russeting would win," Bart Cummings said.
"I told him we would beat Anthony's horse and that he should take the quinella."
That advice was apparently not followed.
Cummings chose to stay at home and oversee his runners at Randwick on Saturday where he had some more racetrack advice as he celebrated Russeting's win with a glass of champagne and a pie.
"You must always have a pie at the races," he said.
"It's a tradition."
So is winning Group One races for Cummings who will send Viewed from Sydney to Melbourne on Tuesday to begin his spring campaign aimed at winning a couple more.