THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN: AN OPPORTUNITY AND A CHALLENGE ROLLED INTO ONE

By Graham Potter | Sunday, May 28, 2017

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

For the twenty-nine year old James Cummings, a three year contract to become head trainer in Australia for the global racing and breeding empire that is Godolphin represents a challenge and an opportunity that only comes the way of a few.

It also represents a major career shift for the young trainer ... a step up to dealing with a volume and quality of horseflesh that is sometimes difficult to comprehend, let alone co-ordinate, and an expectation of success that flows down through a chain of command, all the way from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai.

It is no easy gig.

Others can look at and salivate at the salary that goes with the position but the truth is you earn every penny. Not that it is an unkind environment. Far from it. But it is a demanding position, filled with multiple responsibilities ... so credit Cummings for having the courage and the confidence to change course and tackle the climb.

And just look at the weight of his decision.

To close the door on the previous chapter of his career Cummings has to leave Leilani Lodge, the famed family stable, behind. He had to tell his clients, some of whom had supported the Cummings stable for decades, that he could no longer train their horses. He had to tell his staff that he could no longer employ them, but he would help them find other positions.

It must have been a personal, emotional pull of tremendous proportions but it ended with a professional decision being made.

Cummings only takes up his new role on July 1 but the story already has a number of sub-plots.

Some deal with the present. For example, will Leilani Lodge, the stables Bart Cummings first moved into in the 1970’s stay in the Cummings name with Anthony Cummings keen to move in? Or, will sentiment be set aside and another trainer get the nod from the ATC who own the complex?

And looking to the future there are so many tantalising prospects. Imagine if an Australian trainer by the name of Cummings gave Godolphin their first victory in a Melbourne Cup after they have tried so hard for so long to do so without success.

Now that would be a story.

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