Bart Cummings trained his first winner of a Group One race in the South Australian Derby in 1958. Fifty years later he is hoping to bring up his 250th Group One winner this Spring.

He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1991 on the strength of having trained a remarkable eight Melbourne Cup winners. A month later he added his ninth and since then has logged up two more. Along with 11 Melbourne Cups he has won six Caulfied Cups and three Cox Plates. Though known as the Cups King for his success with stayers he also has an impressive record with sprinters, including four victories in the Golden Slipper Stakes, Australia’s richest race for juveniles.

The son of a trainer, Bart took out his own training licence in 1950, aged 23. Since then he has set many records – the first Australian trainer to top $1 million in winnings (1974), the first to be leading trainer in three states in the same season (1989-90) ….and of course, those 11 Melbourne Cups.

At 80 he is still an active and successful trainer: Who is to say he will not break more records yet?