Legendary racing trainer and "Cups King" Bart Cummings rarely showed emotion after big wins or defeats, and he always told people not to get too attached to racehorses.
asserted
he → show → racehorses
But even Cummings had exceptions to the rule, and one was the "horse from heaven", Saintly.
asserted
one → have → heaven
The big-striding chestnut gelding with an army of fans gave Cummings a landmark triumph 30 years ago this week in the Melbourne Cup at Flemington.
asserted
gelding → stride → Flemington
Going into the big race, Cummings had already won a record nine Cups (his nearest rival at the time was French trainer Etienne de Mestre back in the 1800s), and his campaign to win a 10th proved to be an absolute masterclass.
asserted
campaign → go → 10th
In his biography, My Life, Cummings told readers there was no particular secret to winning Melbourne Cups.
asserted
Cummings → tell → Cups
"There's no magic," he wrote.
asserted
he → be → ?
"
Do all this, Cummings believed, and "you make your own luck".
asserted
you → do → luck
Cummings believed horses that ran in the cup should have completed a series of lead-up runs, and have a total of 10,000m or race distance in their legs before Melbourne Cup day.
asserted
that → believe → day
One person who saw this plan in action up close was Joe Agresta, who was trackwork rider for Cummings for 34 years.
asserted
who → see → years
When he first saw Saintly for the first time, he wasn't overly impressed.
asserted
he → see → time
"He was a nice horse but he was a gangly type of three-year-old," Agresta says.
"Then he came out and he just blitzed them in the Carbine Club Stakes [at Flemington].
asserted
he → say → Flemington
"He went back [to Sydney], and [Bart] built him up, then he came back and won the Australian Cup."
asserted
he → go → Cup
Cummings had a beautiful property near the Nepean River in Western Sydney called Princes Farm.
asserted
Cummings → have → Sydney
The great trainer unofficially referred to it as "horse heaven".
asserted
trainer → refer → heaven
Saintly was bred at Princes Farm and was born there in 1992, the year after Cummings's ninth Cup win with Let's Elope.
asserted
Saintly → breed → Elope
When Cummings nearly went bankrupt with the collapse of the Cups King syndicate in the late 1980s, Malaysian businessman Dato Tan Chin Nam was among those who helped support him to keep him afloat.
asserted
who → go → him
Chin Nam had owned Think Big, which had won back-to-back Melbourne Cups for Cummings in 1974 and 1975.
asserted
which → own → 1974
When Saintly was born, Cummings gave the businessman a half-share in gratitude for his help.
asserted
Cummings → bear → help
Saintly's three-year-old season included the Carbine Club Stakes win, and then the Australian Cup win in March 1996 marked another win at Flemington, where his long stride had plenty of room to move.
asserted
stride → include → room
A few more runs in Sydney followed before Cummings gave Saintly a decent spell.
asserted
Cummings → follow → spell
He wouldn't return to the track for nearly five months.
asserted
He → return → months
Cummings's lesson learned
asserted
lesson → learn → ?
For his most important campaign, Saintly was running every couple of weeks in Sydney.
asserted
Saintly → run → Sydney
After three runs, it was clear Cummings had expectations, but what would come next?
asserted
what → have → expectations
By this time, the permanent jockey had long been Darren Beadman, a top operator who had ridden Cummings's eighth Melbourne Cup winner on Kingston Rule in 1990.
asserted
who → ride → 1990
It was early October when Saintly had his fourth and fifth runs, over the space of a weekend at Randwick in Sydney.
asserted
Saintly → have → Sydney
The chestnut ran second in the Craven Plate on the Saturday and third in the Metropolitan on Monday, although in the latter race Saintly hit the front but was flat at the end, out-finished by Hula Flight and Nothin Leica Dane.
asserted
Saintly → run → Flight
"Bart rang me and said, 'I'm sending Saintly down [to Melbourne].
asserted
I → ring → Melbourne
I want you to freshen up the horse, I've learned something about him,'" Agresta says.
asserted
Agresta → want → him
Saintly was quickly jumping out of his skin, but Cummings didn't want to run him in the Caulfield Cup in mid-October.
asserted
Cummings → jump → October
Instead he aimed him at the Cox Plate.
asserted
he → aim → Plate
The Cox Plate (run over 2,040m) is known as the weight-for-age championship of Australasia, where the race does what it says on the box.
asserted
it → run → box
Horses are given a certain weight depending on their age, with female horses (fillies and mares) given a discount because they are racing against males (colts, horses and geldings).
asserted
they → give → males
Then there is the Melbourne Cup, which is a handicap run over 3,200m.
asserted
which → be → m.
This kind of race sees horses given a weight (or handicap), decided by a range of factors including age and past performances.
asserted
horses → see → age
Generally it sees more weight for better horses and less weight for less experienced runners.
asserted
it → see → runners
At least until earlier this century, the point of the exercise was to produce a hypothetical result where every runner finished together.
asserted
runner → produce → result
Up to 1996, only three horses (Nightmarch in 1929, Phar Lap in 1930 and Rising Fast in 1954) had won both the Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup in the same year.
asserted
horses → win → year
That year, before it was commonplace, Cummings opted for the Cox Plate as the lead-up for the Melbourne Cup, not the grand final.
asserted
Cummings → opt → Cup
Some thought the Moonee Valley circuit would be too tight for Saintly.
asserted
circuit → think → Saintly
…and 66 more, not listed.
The Aporia