Viewed Goes On Cup Trail
Bart Cummings is looking ahead to a 12th Melbourne Cup after Scenic galloper Viewed spread-eagled his Brisbane Cup rivals by seven lengths at Eagle Farm yesterday.
The Brisbane Cup has been reduced to 2400m from 3200m in recent years, but yesterday’s race was a solid staying test through the muddy conditions and the four-year-old handled it easily.
Viewed is by Scenic, a son of Sadler’s Wells, who continues to dominate major races in Europe. On Saturday, his grandson New Approach (by Galileo) took out the English Derby, to give the line five wins from eight runnings of the Classic this decade.
Scenic is the sire of eight G1 winners in Australia but his best hope of a Melbourne Cup went awry when Universal Prince was scratched from the race in 2001.
Cummings last won the Melbourne Cup in 1999, when Rogan Josh became his 11th winner – and fourth that decade.
His previous winners are Light Fingers (1965), Galilee (1966), Red Handed (1967), Think Big (1974-75), Gold And Black (1977), Hyperno (1979), Kingston Rule (1990), Let’s Elope (1991), Saintly (1996) and Rogan Josh.
The great trainer notched his 700th stakes success in yesterday’s Cup and is only one win away from a career haul of 250 Group 1 wins.
Cummings was an inaugural inductee to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
His son Anthony is now a leading trainer in his own right and won yesterday’s G2 Queensland Guineas with Turffontein in the race immediately prior to the Brisbane Cup.