Racing Victoria stewards will allow Bart Cummings' name to remain in the training partnership with his grandson if evergreen stayer Precedence makes the Melbourne Cup field this year.
Precedence, who has already contested four Melbourne Cups, is being set for a fifth attempt at the race that Cummings has won a staggering 12 times.
Chief steward Terry Bailey said if the horse made the Melbourne Cup field the partnership name of James and Bart Cummings would remain.
"It certainly will stay that way. Bart Cummings has made the race his own and we have no problem with that partnership remaining through to the Melbourne Cup," Bailey said.
Cummings would be aiming for his 13th Melbourne Cup if Precedence makes the field for Australia's biggest race.
One race executive said yesterday: "The move by the stewards is an excellent one. Bart Cummings is a known figure around the world and it would be a fitting tribute to have J.B. Cummings in a Melbourne Cup racebook.
"They are a fourth generation family that have done much for our industry and isn't it fitting that once you mention the name Bart you immediately associate it with Cummings and horse racing in this country," he said.
Sympathies for the family poured in from all levels of society including the state government, race clubs and owners and fellow trainers once word had got out that the 87-year-old had passed away.
