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The prospect of the Cummings name attached to a two-year-old stepping out before Christmas has been rare in recent years, particularly if searching for one listed alongside Bart's name rather than Anthony's.
Patience has always been preached, so it should come as a small surprise the training partnership of Bart and James Cummings will have a second two-year-old runner for the season at Randwick on Saturday.
"Perhaps three or four years ago we didn't have the two-year-old types, which is what it takes," co-trainer James Cummings said. "You can't just take a horse like So You Think to a race like this, it just doesn't work. That doesn't make them any less of a horse, it's just the way it is.
"For years I have been clocking horses watching Gai [Waterhouse] and now I get the chance to watch Peter Snowden and before him John O'Shea and see what they did with their young horses.
"My father has also been quite good with [the early two-year-olds]. He's had his fair share of Golden Slipper chances in the past too. They are four very good trainers of two-year-olds and a lot of it just comes down to how you manage them and we've got the horses to do it with now."
Remarkably, the partnership had three winners and a couple of place-getters from just seven two-year-old runners for the entire 2013-14 season, highlighted by Hallowed Crown's win in the Kindergarten Stakes. The colt went on to win the group 1 Golden Rose early in his three-year-old season.
Now the beautifully bred Aspen Star, a half-brother to Thousand Guineas winner Irish Lights, will make his debut in the first on the Kensington track for the Cummings partnership after a couple of handy barrier trials.
Duncan Ramage was only forced to put his hand up for $40,000 to take home the son of Starcraft from the Magic Millions sales ring, with Ladbrokes offering $21 about his chances of a win on debut.
"His two trials have been solid, but he needs to improve a bit to be competitive in a field like this," Cummings said.
"The Godolphin horse [Italy] with the race experience will be really, really hard to beat. I heard Paul Snowden say that [Denpurr] was their best filly. Our horse is a $40,000 yearling punching above his weight.
"We're happy with him and he's a pretty flashy customer. I said if he's a good horse he will be a popular horse because he looks very attractive."
Aspen Star is one of eight horses set to debut at Randwick, with only Italy and Domanus boasting race experience.
As one stable project begins his preparation, another is likely to end it as staying mare Blazing Dragon ascends into Saturday metropolitan grade after a string of solid performances at the midweeks. She will take on just six other rivals in the 2400-metre second event.
"This might be the time for her to stretch out in distance and achieve the mile-and-a-half, which she hasn't been able to do with any authority in the past," Cummings said. "It seemed like a nice race to end her preparation with."
