The passing of Bart Cummings touched a lot of people besides his devoted family; there were those that had served him for the majority of their lives.

Bart was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth; he was just a knock about kid who never had visions of becoming a horse trainer.

There were no airs or graces about him, it is doubtful if he had any great ambitions as he was growing up.

His dad, Jim, had experienced those tough times of the depression years of the mid-twenties, until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.

Ultimately Jim had his taste of success, but much later than he would have expected when he trained for the Lee brothers, the successful owners of Comic Court, Comedy Prince, St Comedy and Gay Comedy, all stakes winners from the same dam, Witty Maid.

Bart finally joined his father in the stable; he was entrusted to bring Comic Court over for the Melbourne Cup.

The horse was an unknown quantity over the two miles (3200 metres), as so many horses are untested at the distance, Jack Purtell was approached to ride Comic Court, but he declined preferring the favourite Alister, the ride was finally accepted by the Adelaide rider, Pat Glennon.

It was among the bravest rides seen in a Melbourne Cup, Comic Court was lumbered with 9 stone 5 pounds (59.5 kg), Glennon set the horse alight with 7 furlongs (1400 metres) to run, the result was never in doubt thereafter, the winning margin was 3 lengths.

When Comic Court retired to stud two years later, the Lee brothers bowed out of racing, and Jim had just about had enough, it was Bart now out on his own.

Bart remained in Adelaide, rarely visiting Melbourne over the next decade, mainly for one reason, he simply never had the horses to compete here.

Finally there was light at the end of the tunnel in the form of the Lee brothers returning to the racing scene, renewing the owner trainer partnership with Sometime, a very capable racehorse.

Bart brought Sometime to Melbourne with the view of winning one of the major Spring Cups, however, he fell foul of the stewards, the horse was transferred to the care of Les Patterson, going on to win the Caulfield Stakes and the Caulfield Cup in 1963, with Sometime starting favourite.

Bart returned to training with a vengeance, the turning point was the win of Light Fingers in the Melbourne Cup of 1965, followed by Galilee 1966, and Red Handed in 1967.

His record of training 12 Melbourne Cup winners, seven Caulfield Cups, five Cox Plates, four Golden Slippers, five Doncasters, and five A J C Derbies, are among his 268 Group 1 successes, a record that will surely stand the test of time.

Those that have experienced the trip through the Bart Cummings era have been privileged; there will be no repeat of his record.

The greatest horse trainer the world has known, records speak volumes for an Icon of the Turf.

Bart Cummings