In 2008, Bart Cummings was officially named a Legend in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

A racehorse trainer by heritage and desire, Cummings trained 268 Group One winners - 266 on his own and the final two in partnership with his grandson James.

He was revered by his peers and rivals for his host of major race wins but to the once-a-year punter Cummings was known simply as the Cups King for his unrivalled efforts to win 12 Melbourne Cups.

The record is one that is destined to stand forever with Lee Freedman the closest on five.

On the first Tuesday in November, Australia literally stops for a horse race that carries a rich prize and an even richer tradition.

Cummings' first taste of Melbourne Cup success came in 1950 when Comic Court, trained by his father Jim, won the famous trophy.

Fifteen years later, he would stand on the podium in his own right as the trainer of the winner, Light Fingers.

Two more Cups followed in 1966 and 1967 with Galilee and Red Handed.

It would be another seven years before he won the race again with a horse called Think Big owned by Dato Tan Chin Nam, a Malaysian businessman who would become his biggest supporter and lifelong friend.

Think Big did not win another race until the following year when again he won the Cup.

Cummings' Cups continued with Gold And Black (1977), Hyperno (1979), Kingston Rule (1990) and Let's Elope in 1991.

And in 1996, along came the "Horse From Heaven" - Saintly.

With Darren Beadman sporting Dato Tan's now recognisable black and white checks, Saintly gave Cummings his 10th Cup and one he maybe valued above others.

Cummings, who owned Saintly in partnership with his old friend, had bred Saintly who was by Sky Chase, a horse he had also trained.

"I never thought I'd rate one of my gallopers up with Galilee but Saintly was right there alongside him," Cummings said in his memoir.

"I'd trained him, I'd owned him, I'd bred him.

"I'd raced his father and bred his mother and grandmother. There's not much more you can do.

"The only thing I hadn't done was ride him."

Cummings was not finished with the Cup just yet. In 1999 Rogan Josh brought up No.11.

Nine years later, the black and white checks were there again - just.

Viewed held off European horse Bauer by a nose in what was then the closest finish anyone could remember.

When he was retired, Viewed spent his final days at Dato Tan's appropriately named Think Big Stud in the NSW Southern Highlands until his death in 2010.

At 23, Saintly still lives at Cummings' Princes Farm on the north-western outskirts of Sydney where his trainer died in the early hours of Sunday morning.

BART CUMMINGS MELBOURNE CUP WINNERS

1965: Light Fingers, 1966: Galilee, 1967: Red Handed, 1974: Think Big, 1975: Think Big, 1977: Gold And Black, 1979: Hyperno, 1990: Kingston Rule, 1991: Let's Elope, 1996: Saintly, 1999: Rogan Josh, 2008: Viewed.