What began as a pipedream will become a reality when Strait Acer lines up in the Golden Eagle.
He might have a famous racing surname, but the effort of Edward Cummings to have a Cox Plate and Golden Eagle runner in the space of eight days has been a notable feat.
Cummings, the grandson of Cups King Bart and son of respected Sydney trainer Anthony, has a boutique team of just 22 horses in work at Hawkesbury.
Despite his small numbers, he saddled up Duais to a luckless fourth in the Cox Plate (2040m) last weekend and will start Strait Acer in Saturday's $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Rosehill.
While the latter is a $34 chance in pre-race markets, he arrives at the race in the form of his life.
Stringing together a hat-trick of wins in Midway and Benchmark grade, Strait Acer stepped up to the Silver Eagle (1300m) and despite a chequered passage in the straight, he motored to the line for an encouraging second to Vienna Princess.
If Cummings wasn't certain he had a Golden Eagle contender going into the Silver Eagle, he was after it.
"Even though it was the plan and we got into the race fair and square, I thought I was half-mad just for trying it because he was so far out of the handicap," Cummings said.
"We started his prep a month earlier than we normally do with our horses because he was that forward and because we needed to test him and get him up in the ratings quickly.
"We had one run where we could be unlucky and the rest of them would have to be runs where he was winning, and that's basically how it has turned out.
"He put a few together and the last run in the Silver Eagle was really good."
Cummings can see similarities between Strait Acer and a horse he trained in partnership with his father, 2018 Villiers Stakes winner Sky Boy.
After showing early promise, Sky Boy notched five successive victories during the spring and summer of that year and Cummings has used him as a barometer for Strait Acer.
"Watching a horse like him reminds me a lot of Sky Boy when he had that prep stringing five or six wins together, culminating in the Villiers," Cummings said.
"We have gone on a very similar journey and that experience has informed a lot of what we've done with this horse.
"The horse is in great nick, and he is just learning and improving all the time."
Cummings will also start Queenmaker in the TAB Handicap (1900m), the mare continuing to thrive as she prepares to line up for her sixteenth start in a campaign that kicked off in February.
"We did give her a month freshen-up (in July), she's had five or six starts since then and it's only her second racing preparation. She loves it," Cummings said.
"Zac Lloyd goes back on and I think he'll be riding her with a fair bit of confidence."
