Godolphin Australia and James Cummings part ways, launching new era with the likes of Chris Waller, Ciaron Maher, Anthony Freedman

Cummings, the grandson of Melbourne Cup legend Bart, has accepted a lucrative training position in racing mecca Hong Kong from next year.

Of Godolphin’s headline horses, the group 1-winning Tom Kitten has been placed with Anthony and Sam Freedman, Melbourne Cup fourth-place getter Zardozi has joined Maher, Golden Mile went to Pride, while Waller also picked up Commemorative and Beiwacht.

Several of the Godolphin horses have already trialled for their new stables.

As part of its shift in approach, Godolphin sold 25 ready-to-race horses for almost $2.2 million on Inglis Digital a fortnight ago, including South Australian Derby place-getter Lavalier for $380,000 and group 3-winner Pisces for $330,000.

While the father-son Freedman combination has prepared a number of young horses for Godolphin in the past, including 2022 Blue Diamond winner Daumier, Sam Freedman sees the racing giant’s change in strategy as a winning move.

“It’s an exciting change for the whole Godolphin brand, and exciting for Australian racing to see their stock spread out,” Freedman said.

“I have no doubt it will be a success. There’s obviously a lot to work through and there will be little hiccups on the way, I’m sure, but on the whole it feels like a really positive change.

“I think, ultimately, the one-trainer model is becoming more and more rare.”

While Freedman said they did not lobby for any horses, they felt privileged to be handed ready-made group 1 star Tom Kitten.

Loading

“He’d be the highest-rated horse we’ve got,” the 2023 Melbourne Cup-winning trainer said. “As an established weight-for-age horse, he’s right at the top.

“It’s very rare that you get a horse like that in the stable that’s able to compete from 1400m to 2000m at weight-for-age against the best horses in the country. It’s exciting.”

Freedman said the four-year-old gelding would likely resume in the group 1 1400m Memsie Stakes At Caulfield on August 30 before heading to the group 1 1600m Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington a fortnight later.

“If he’s really flying along, and it looks like a realistic target, that could mean he’ll line up in the Cox Plate,” Freedman said.

“But his first two runs are sort of pencilled in, and then we are just going to assess him after that.”

Godolphin Australia managing director Andy Makiv and racing and bloodstock manager Jason Walsh oversaw the mass relocation of their horses.

“It certainly wasn’t an easy decision, and it doesn’t preclude opportunities for others (trainers) in the future,” Makiv said.

Godolphin’s breeding arm Darley will continue to stand stallions, including those that raced during Cumming’s tenure such as Anamoe, Bivouac, Broadsiding and Cylinder.

But their number of runners has fallen away significantly in recent years. After a high of 1276 starters in the 2018/19 season, those figures have dropped to 804 in 2023/24 and 680 last season.

But Makiv denied this will be an ongoing trend.

“Moving away from a private training model gives us greater business agility,” he said at the end of April.

“We will continue to have the same number of horses in training — it’s fundamental to what we do.”

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.