His prediction was based on his observation that some owners and trainers were not patient enough to wait for a distance racehorse.

Bart Cummings, who won a staggering 12 Melbourne Cups and who died 18 months ago, warned Anthony that Australian trainers needed to factor in more time and be patient when preparing staying or cup horses.

On Monday, the VRC received 32 second declarations for next Tuesday's $6.2 million Melbourne Cup – a 25 per cent drop compared with numbers in 2015.

And this year the total number of nominations, 122, was the lowest in the history of the race. The Geelong, Bendigo and Moonee Valley cups also attracted small fields – a far cry from the days when those events were hard to gain runs in.

Anthony said his father's "genius" was his incredible ability to know when to apply pressure on his horses and when to put them aside and wait for them to grow into their bodies.

"It's been well recorded that Dad maintained a horse needed a certain amount of miles in their legs before they could run in a Melbourne Cup, but what he didn't say was that those miles were being run on mature legs and mature legs that were more than ready to cope with it after months and sometimes years of waiting.
  
"I'll never forget how he threw Red Handed into a paddock for six months because Dad knew the horse needed growing and maturing. Can you imagine that happening today?

"And look at how he turned out – a wonderful stayer and a winner of the Melbourne Cup."

Anthony maintains some trainers still pattern themselves on his father, who became frustrated when he watched rival trainers gallop horses hard when they weren't ready to cope with it. "He would say, pointing his finger, that horse should have been growing and letting it's body develop in a paddock not in a racing stable

"Dad told me, and I had no cause to disbelieve him, that when Tommy Smith won his only two Melbourne Cups he followed Dad's template for producing a Melbourne Cup winner.
  
"He would get upset if someone wanted to push one [a horse] that was not ready. Sure, he stood them up to the mark with some good, strong long work but they were ready for it.

"He knew them. Like a really good football coach who knew some players needed lots of work from game-to-game and others could survive on a quarter of that workload," he said.

Anthony Cummings, who is a successful trainer in Sydney, said: "Dad knew that once you encouraged staying sires into the marketplace you must also work with the horse and give it all the time it takes to mature,

"Dad wouldn't hesitate to throw them out into the paddock so that they could grow a bit more or mature a bit more or toughen up a bit more.

"He demanded patience when he was getting those horses right. And he was aware of the international invasion that has steadily gotten stronger, and to a degree replenished the stocks of distance horses, but he got so upset with rival trainers who were pressuring horses unnecessarily when they would be rewarded tenfold in time," he said.

And apart from his record of 12 Melbourne Cups, Cummings achieved success in nearly every major race in Australia. His dynasty continues with his son Anthony and grandson James.