Australian Horseracing Trainer Bart Cummings To End Partnership With Grandson

Four months after it was made official by Australian horseracing authorities, the training partnership between "living legend Bart Cummings and his grandson James is verging on being over," according to Brendan Cormick of THE AUSTRALIAN. The venture between the pair "will cease" on Dec. 31. Cummings "would not confirm, in as many words, that there had been a breakdown in the business relationship" with the 25-year-old. Cummings: "There have been no discussions at this stage. It's confidential." However, the arrangement "was not working out as the 12-time Melbourne Cup-winning trainer had envisaged." Cummings: "Young fellows get swelled heads, big eyes and take a lot of controlling." A confident young man, "stamped with the Cummings wit and with an enormous regard for his grandfather and what he has achieved, James has not had to try hard to ruffle the feathers of stable stalwarts that have served Bart loyally -- and they have not warmed to the shots being called by the heir apparent" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/4).