SUNDAY: January 31, 2021: IT was the 11th winner of Edward Cummings’ brief solo training career – and one he will long remember!
The grandson of the legendary Bart Cummings and fifth generation trainer clinched a breakthrough success with lightly-raced Prompt Prodigy ($6.50) at Newcastle yesterday to post his sixth victory of the current season; his most successful yet.
Given a perfect ride by Christian Reith, the New Zealand-born colt always had the Maiden Plate (1500m) in his control and put the result beyond doubt after straightening, easily holding off the $2.20 favorite Mightybeel’s late challenge.
More Than Ready three-year-old Prompt Prodigy is the sixth foal of the Redoute’s Choice mare Allez Wonder, one of the last few of the late Cups King’s 268 Group 1 winners during a remarkable 62-year career which included a record 12 Melbourne Cups, seven Caulfield Cups and no less than 33 Derbies.
Allez Wonder became Michelle Payne’s initial Group 1 winner when she landed the 2009 Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield at $41.
Edward Cummings went to $120,000 in 2019 to purchase Prompt Prodigy at the Gold Coast two-year-olds in training sale. He had been passed in at $85,000 earlier that year at the Magic Millions yearling sale.
“Being out of Allez Wonder was obviously part of the reason why I was keen to buy the colt,” Cummings said today.
“Bart was not only a great racehorse trainer, but a great judge and breeder as well.
“Whilst he didn’t breed Prompt Prodigy, he certainly had a lot to do with his dam, who won the 2009 Kembla Grange Classic (1600m) for three-year-olds as a maiden before capturing the Toorak later that year.”
Whilst the stats show that Cummings had a couple of partners when he bought the colt, he was quickly left swimming on his own.
“They chose to pull out of the colt, so I had to find new owners to race Prompt Prodigy,” he explained.
“Some of Bart’s family and friends from Melbourne became involved and then Greg Benecke took the final 10 per cent.
“Prompt Prodigy has been knocking on the door, and it was great to finally get the monkey off our back yesterday.”
Whilst Cummings had hoped the colt would shine last spring, he considers giving him more time will enable him to do so this autumn.
“He is starting to come into his own,” he said. “He ran really well a fortnight ago when placed over 1400m at Kembla Grange, and was dominant yesterday.
“You naturally have lofty goals for such a well-bred colt, but we’ll let him guide us as to where we are heading.
“I’m sure he will manage up to at least 2000m going on what jockeys who have ridden him before tell me.
“The beauty is that he can handle soft ground as he showed yesterday, so we’ve got a few options with him going forward.
“I’m sure he will take further improvement from yesterday’s breakthrough and gain confidence as well.”
. Whilst Cummings was thrilled to shed Prompt Prodigy’s maiden status, a storm which hit Broadmeadow racecourse midway through the program eventually forced the abandonment of the last four races because of poor visibility – and cost him the opportunity to add a provincial double to his resume.
“I felt Duais was nicely placed in the Benchmark 64 Handicap (1850m) from an inside draw, but it wasn’t to be and safety always must come first,” he said.