The legend Bart Cummings won 14 Flemington Classics but he was always concerned about the 2500m start, so much he suggested a solution to the Derby dilemma at the beginning of the 21st Century.
The Cups’ King came up with what could become known as the Cummings chute at the 2000m mark.
It would give a long straight run for the first half of the test of stamina of the early-season three-year-olds, while also keeping the Derby and Oaks towards the traditional distance.
Cummings’ main concern was the pressure the short run to the first turn put on young stayers and didn’t allow them to relax. Cummings took the idea of a chute around the 2000m mark to Victoria Racing Club but they never acted on it.
“Bart could see the main problems from the Derby came, because of the charge to the first turn and the interference that happened there,” Cummings’ former bloodstock agent Duncan Ramage said.
“He didn’t want to take the Derby back to 2000m, but thought that a chute where the old stripping sheds were, would make the race better.
“They have long since gone, but when you look at Flemington there is space for Bart’s idea that could have a 2300m Derby or Oaks with a near straight to the only turn.”
The Epsom Derby, Kentucky Derby, and French Derby all have starts that give horses time to find position before they start turning.
At Epsom it is nearly 1000m to the turn, while it over 400m at Churchill Downs for the 2000m US Classic and more than 300m at Chantilly, where the three-year-olds run 2100m.
Those Derbys also come at least a month after the Victoria Derby in terms of racing season, so going back in trip has some justification in Australia.
While Cummings won five VRC Derbys and nine VRC Oaks, he also experienced how the Flemington Classics can shorten or end a career.
“We had a horse like Pendragon that won the Gloaming Stakes and Norman Robinson, was runner-up in the Spring Champion Stakes and fourth in the Derby,” Ramage said, remembering back to 2005.
“He bowed a tendon when he got into trouble at the first turn in the Derby and was never the same again.
“There are plenty of those stories.
“Bart’s idea is a solution to the main problem he saw, while keeping the Derby near its traditional distance.”
