Anthony Cummings — the son of horse racing legend, Bart — reportedly owes more than $2 million and has had his training business placed into liquidation.
The Cummings name is synonymous with horse racing in Australia, with the late Bart Cummings training a staggering 12 Melbourne Cup winners and now has a race named after him at Flemington to go with his statue.
Anthony’s son, James Cummings, is also a very successful trainer. He runs the Godolphin stables in Australia and has a Cox Plate to his name, as well as a Blue Diamond, a Golden Rose and a swag of other prestigious races.
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However, a liquidator’s report (by insolvency business DW Advisory) has been submitted to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, stating that Cummings’ RossCarbery Holdings business has collapsed with “$4.2 million claimed by unsecured creditors”.
It has been reported by The Sydney Morning Herald that Anthony might be forced out of the family’s iconic Leilani Lodge stables where Bart trained some his famous Melbourne Cup winners.
With his business under administration, Racing NSW is investigating and the 68-year-old could lose his licence.
The liquidator’s report says the Cummings’ business was chased by Australian Tax Office for $1.3 million, another $797,399 was owed to trade creditors, and staff had missed out on their superannuation to the tune of $155,128 (it is possible they might get back between 31¢ and 40¢ in the dollar of their unpaid super, while Cummings have covered another two months).
It has also been reported that the company may have “engaged in insolvent trading” and may have failed “to maintain adequate books and records”.
“I don’t believe any of that applies. I acted in good faith at all times,” Cummings told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“The reality is the biggest debts owed by the training company were to me, my wife and my thoroughbred company. That’s a matter of fact. I’ve had discussions with the majority of people involved and there is no issue there.”
Cummings is confident of keeping his trainer’s licence and says Racing NSW is across all the details.
He has trained more than 30 Group 1 winner but says a lack of recent success has attributed to his business’ demise.
It has also been suggested that some his clients and hit by the ‘cost of living crisis’ and have been sluggish in paying their fees to company.
Cummings other son, Edward, is assisting his father and the liquidator’s report says he has offered work to some of his father’s staff and also helped out with staff’s annual leave payments.
Anthony — who prior to 2019 worked with Edward for nine years — is reportedly hoping to reunite with Edward in a renewed partnership.
That, however, will depend on the outcome of Racing NSW’s investigation.
“The plan was for Edward and I to join a partnership,” Cummings said.
“He had an operating company, I had an operating company. We only need one. So one or the other had to be shut down. On the advice of various people, we shut down the one that I was using. There’s nothing unusual about that – there’s nothing nefarious about that.”
When Cummings’ business went under administration, it had total assets of just $979.
He had a Group 1 winner and collected $1.1 million purse in October when El Castello won the Spring Champion Stakes at Rosehill.
“This is what you do it for,” an emotional Cummings said after that win.
“All the other stuff is a headache sometimes; you work your way through different things at different times. At the end of the day, we are here to train horses, win races and have a good time. That’s what we’re doing.”