Parliament has paid tribute to the late Bart Cummings with Prime Minister Tony Abbott declaring him perhaps the greatest horse trainer in Australia's racing history.
Hours after a state memorial service in St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, federal MPs stood in silence to acknowledge the passing of the man known as the "Cups King" at the age of 87.
Mr Abbott said few people had dominated a sport quite like Cummings.
"He won his first major race way back in 1958 and went on to dominate horse racing for almost six decades," he told parliament on Monday.
"He was the trainer every jockey wanted to ride for, every owner wanted to engage and every punter felt safe betting on."
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Cummings won Australia's greatest race - the Melbourne Cup - 12 times, more than twice the number of his closest rival.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Cummings was a gentleman of the turf and the king of the sport of kings.
For more than half a century, punters would run their eyes down the form guide and settle on the name JB Cummings.
"That name in print, or the flash of the green and gold silks in the mounting yard was enough for many to re-do their carefully-formulated trifecta and rework their quaddie," he said.
"Perhaps they would say to themselves `Bart has something up his sleeve again' and so often he did."
