Steve Hitstirrer is a well-travelled, sports-hardened, armchair expert, prepared to tear the scab off a whole range of sporting wounds. Love him or hate him, you’ll find indifference is not an option.

This time of the year, just about every year, when the first Tuesday in November rolls around, the superlatives come out for "Cups King" Bart Cummings. Cummings holds the record for the most wins as a trainer in the Melbourne Cup. But is he really the greatest trainer Australia has ever seen or has he just been around for a very long time?

Cummings had his first Cup runner in 1958 and since that time has entered another 80 horses in Australia's biggest race. He has collected the Cup on 12 occasions, a record which may never be surpassed, but it is still only a 15% success rate.

Before Viewed came along and won last year, he hadn't won one for nine years, despite having six runners in that period. This year he prepared Viewed to win the Cup again, picking up the Caulfield Cup along the way. Everyone fell in love with the Cummings legend and many tens of thousands of Australians handed over their hard earned cash to be part of the dream. History will record that Viewed plodded to the line without threatening to run a place.

Mark Kavanagh was a South Australian jumps jockey before he turned his hand to the training caper in 1991. He grew up alongside the Cummings family, his mother even cooked for the family for a time and no doubt he sees Cummings as an inspiration.

After building a successful stable in Adelaide, Kavanagh expanded his operation opening a stable at Flemington in 2007. He has trained 13 Group One winners since his first in 2004 and is responsible for champions such as Maldivian, Divine Madonna and Whobegotyou.

Shocking was only Kavanagh's second Melbourne Cup runner after Hard To Get in 2004. One win from two starts is a phenomenal success rate of 50%. Of course he has yet to match the longevity of Cummings, but does that make him less of a trainer or just much younger?

Champion horses don't grow on trees and identifying one, training it to perfection and having it at its peak for that 3200 metre lap of Flemington rates as one of the toughest tasks in horse racing. But that is exactly what Cummings is renowned for and what his legendary status is built on. Is he better at it than any other or has he just been doing it for longer than anyone else?

With Faint Perfume winning The Oaks today, the Cummings legend will live on. With new trainers coming and going it remains to be seen whether any of them can hang around long enough to match the numbers Cummings has amassed.

New trainers like Kavanagh keep the industry alive and it could be argued that in time one of them will take the master's place.

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Is Bart Cummings the greatest trainer ever?
Is a 15% Melbourne Cup success rate really that impressive?
Could someone like Kavanagh knock Bart from the top of the tree?