One of horse racing’s greatest family dynasties is in turmoil after the training business of Anthony Cummings was placed into liquidation with debts of more than $2 million.
Cummings is a member of the country’s racing royalty, being the son of legendary horseman Bart Cummings and father of James Cummings, the Cox Plate-winning head trainer of global thoroughbred powerhouse Godolphin in Australia.
Anthony Cummings has trained 32 group 1 winners in a three-decade career.Credit: Getty Images
However, the 68-year-old could be forced to vacate the famous Leilani Lodge stables, where Bart trained some of his 12 Melbourne Cup winners, as Racing NSW investigates the collapse of his training company and assesses his suitability to hold a licence.
According to a liquidator’s report filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Cummings’ business RossCarbery Holdings is being wound up, with $4.2 million claimed by unsecured creditors.
Almost half of that is loans made to the company by Cummings himself as well as by his wife Bernadette and another related party, Anthony Cummings Thoroughbreds.
The report by Sydney insolvency firm DW Advisory said the Australian Tax Office had pursued it for debts of $1.3 million and that a further $797,399 was outstanding to other trade creditors. Employees were also due $155,128 in superannuation when the company went into administration.
Liquidator Cameron Gray said it was likely the company engaged in insolvent trading but further investigation may be required. He listed “failure to maintain adequate books and records” and “acting recklessly and not in good faith in the best interest of the corporation or not for the proper purpose” as other possible breaches of the Corporations Act but said they may also need further investigation.
Bart Cummings celebrates after winning the 2008 Melbourne Cup with Viewed.Credit: Vince Caligiuri
The liquidator drew attention to the reduction of a loan from Anthony Cummings Thoroughbreds by $298,433 in the past year and payments made to the creditors of another company of his that was placed into liquidation five years ago.
“I don’t believe any of that applies. I acted in good faith at all times,” Cummings said on Thursday.
“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 continuing to train dozens of horses at Randwick and hopes to re-form a partnership with his other son, Edward, who previously operated at Hawkesbury, under the 38-year-old’s company Myrtle House.
James Cummings has carved out a formidable record after getting his start training with grandfather Bart.Credit: Eddie Jim
Edward Cummings has already transferred his horses in work to his father’s stables and offered a number of Anthony’s employees work and assumed or paid out annual leave entitlements, according to the liquidator.
But after being issued with a show-cause notice by Racing NSW last month over the folding of his company, it’s unclear whether Anthony Cummings will be cleared by the regulator to continue training and link up with his son, with whom he was in partnership for nine years before Edward went out on his own in 2019.
Racing NSW declined to comment on Thursday as investigation was ongoing.
Cummings attributed the company’s failure to a “lack of on-track performance of horses” while its external accountant also ascribed responsibility to clients paying slower during the cost of living crisis.
The liquidator reported the company was owed $262,206, of which $74,428 had been clawed back, and employees could expect to recover between 31¢ and 40¢ in the dollar of unpaid superannuation, with Cummings having made payments covering two months.
But the company’s accountant advised that Cummings had assets totalling only $979, as well as liabilities of $50,000 and multiple personal guarantees, concluding: “On the surface, it appears that Mr Cummings does not have the capacity to pay in the event of a judgment against him”.
Cummings, who had a Group 1 win with El Castello in October, said he had taken Racing NSW through the particulars of his training company’s demise and believed he had satisfied its queries.
“The plan was for Edward and I to join a partnership,” he 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.”
El Castello, trained by Cummings, races at Randwick in October.Credit: Getty Images
His troubles come as his other son, James, re-writes the record books training for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and founder of Godolphin. Last month the fourth-generation trainer secured his 50th group 1 winner at the age of 36.
Anthony Cummings, who has trained 34 group 1 winners in his three-decade career, said he did not believe his licence and his family’s long association with Leilani Lodge was in jeopardy.
“All I know is I’ve got 50-odd horses in work here,” he said.
“They’re well looked after, well fed and they’re racing as well as they ever have”.
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