Carrying the Torch: Phil and Mel Cummings Carry the Tuapeka Lodge Legacy Forward

Tuapeka Rubie Steps Into the Spotlight as a New Chapter ramps up at one of New Zealand’s Most Historic Standardbred Studs

On a Friday night at Addington Raceway, a bay filly by Tall Dark Stranger will walk onto the track carrying more than 55 years of history behind her. Tuapeka Rubie, out of the Somebeachsomewhere mare Tuapeka Helen, will line up in the Group 2 $60,000 Bionic Chance Bracelet for two-year-old fillies. She has drawn barrier seven in a strong field that includes three of this season’s early juvenile Group race winners in Wat Fun, Validation, and Gottagoodfeeling, with New Zealand’s leading reinsman Blair Orange taking the drive.

For Phil and Melinda Cummings, who have operated Tuapeka Lodge since 2021, it will be the first time a horse carrying the famous Tuapeka prefix has raced under their watch. In many ways, it signals the beginning of a new chapter.

A Legacy Written in Gold

Tuapeka Lodge was established at Lawrence in Central Otago in 1965 by Joan Cummings, beginning with a single mare named Charlton Lady. Joan’s widower Cliff continued the work, and alongside sons Dan and Peter, and daughter Julie Davie, the family developed one of New Zealand’s most respected and enduring Standardbred breeding operations.

Named after the historic goldfields district, Tuapeka Lodge became deeply rooted in Lawrence on the banks of the Tuapeka River. The decades that followed, the stud produced an extraordinary list of performers including Ideal Scott, Iraklis, Brad Adios, Tuapeka Star, Tuapeka Knight, Fine Jade, Ermis, Reality Check, Tuapeka Gold, and Tuapeka Vale, the dam of Miracle Mile and New Zealand Trotting Cup winner Monkey King.

The stud remains the longest continuous vendor at the National Yearling Sale and has produced 10 sale toppers across its history. Among the most notable was the 1987 filly Tuapeka Royale, by Lordship from Sakuntala, who sold for $180,000. That same year, Tuapeka Kay also fetched $180,000. In 2008, Tuapeka Mariner (Christian Cullen x Seamoon) topped the sale at $250,000. The stud also bred Iraklis, sold for $88,000 at the 1994 sale before retiring with earnings of more than $1 million.

At the centre of that legacy for many years was Dan Cummings, the semi-retired Catholic priest whose influence stretched across every aspect of the operation. Based in Lawrence, Dan assessed pedigrees, arranged matings, broke in and pre-trained fillies, supervised racing careers, and prepared yearlings for sale. His encyclopaedic knowledge of bloodlines and deep passion for the breed earned enormous respect throughout the harness racing industry. When he passed away in 2020, he left behind a stud steeped in history, with bloodlines and goodwill built across generations.

New Hands, Same Soil

Phil Cummings is Dan’s nephew. He and his wife Melinda took over the stud operation not long after Dan’s passing, completing the buyout of Dan’s father and Julie around 2021. As Phil acknowledges, they were stepping into significant shoes.

“Yeah, we’re loving it,” he says. “We love it.”

Phil arrived at the role with a strong grounding in stock work and rural life. After leaving school, he spent years shepherding before heading overseas for four or five years. Returning home, he moved into breeding sheep and dogs before the opportunity to take over Tuapeka Lodge emerged.

“I was always helping right through with the horses anyway,” he says. “But Danny, that was his game.”

The stud was not inherited with a large broodmare band intact. Phil and Mel began with only a handful of mares, among them dual Group 2 winner Bonnie Joan (Somebeachsomewhere), her half-sister and 1:53 performer Break Dance (Art Major), and Tuapeka Helen. From there, the rebuild has been patient and measured.

“We only had two or three mares and we’re building them back up, probably trying to get to about 12 or 15 mares.”

To establish their own direction within the Lodge’s long-standing bloodline tradition, they have sourced mares with complementary pedigrees. A Stay Hungry mare came from Gavel House, while a Captain Midnight filly was also secured. At the 2025 yearling sales, Phil also spotted a Vincent filly from the Undercover Lover family passing through the ring with little attention.

“She was going through the ring and never really got much action. He was just walking past us back to his stable and I said, ‘Oh, I’ll take her.’ So we agreed on a price and brought her home.”

Just as importantly, the broodmare band is beginning to replenish itself from within. Bonnie Joan has a filly currently in foal, the Stay Hungry and Captain Midnight fillies are expected to join the broodmare band in time, and the purchase from the Undercover Lover family adds another layer. Rubie herself, should she fulfil her early promise, is also expected to return to the paddock one day.

“She’ll be back in the band, yeah. She’s got to prove herself yet, but she’ll go back in.”

In the most recent breeding season, Tuapeka Lodge had five mares covered and currently has six foals on the ground, including a purchased filly named Queen Of Soul, a daughter of Reality Check, itself part of the Lodge’s own breeding history.

“We’re getting them all covered off. We’re starting to get back to everything really.”

Learning the Sales Game

Since taking over, the yearling sales have represented a learning curve as much as anything else. Tuapeka Lodge remains one of the longest-serving vendors at the National Yearling Sale in Christchurch, and Phil has been determined to maintain that presence, even while rebuilding numbers.

“To be fair, we’re the longest selling family at that sale. We’ve actually had to buy a couple of colts to put through the sale to keep our name and brand ticking over, but the numbers we’re building now, it won’t be long before we’re a lot more visible.”

Results through the ring have varied. In 2022, a colt by Ultimate Machete from Tuapeka Maddy sold for $28,000. In 2023, a colt named Raconteur (Always B Miki x Raconteur) sold to PI and GJ Kennard Bloodstock for $20,000.

The 2024 sale offered further encouragement. A colt by Fear The Dragon from Second Wave was passed in at a $10,000 reserve, while an Always B Miki filly from Wave Runner was passed in at $40,000. The highlight came when Tuapeka Dan, a Bettor’s Delight colt from Bonnie Joan, sold to PI and GJ Kennard Bloodstock for $100,000, becoming the first six-figure sale result under Phil and Mel’s stewardship.

“Yeah, that was pretty good to get that,” Phil says. “We sold a filly out of her earlier on in a private sale for a couple of hundred thousand too.”

At the 2025 sale, the Lodge offered three lots in Christchurch. A Sweet Lou colt from Maddisons Mate sold for $62,500 to Southland buyer Mr B Ballantyne. The Lodge also secured the Vincent filly from A Better Lover for $4,000, the same filly Phil had noticed going through the ring. Pistol Pete, a Bettor’s Delight colt from Bonnie Joan, was passed in on a $60,000 reserve.

In 2026, another Sweet Lou colt from Maddisons Mate was purchased by the same Southland buyer for $35,000 and has since gone on to finish fourth in Group 1 company, adding further encouragement to the family’s ongoing commercial appeal.

This year, Phil expects to return with stronger draft quality again.

“This year we’ll be back up to some pretty good progeny, with a colt from Break Dance and a colt out of Sweet Star Of Mine, which are both by Downbytheseaside, and we’ll have another Sweet Lou colt out of Maddisons Mate as well. We’ll have three pretty good opportunities there for people.”

In Work and Heading to the Races

Phil Cummings is not short of horses to think about heading into the second half of 2026.

Tuapeka Rubie is in work with Stephen Boyd in Christchurch. A Tall Dark Stranger filly from Bonnie Joan is also heading to Boyd’s stable. A Stay Hungry filly is destined for trainer Bob Butt, while the Captain Midnight filly will head to Hayden and Amanda Cullen after spelling at home until around August. Pistol Pete will also join the Cullens, while One Eye Bandit (Always B Miki – Break Dance), who has already shown ability winning two from eight starts, is also due back in spring.

“We’ve got a heap,” Phil says, with the quiet satisfaction of someone steadily building momentum.

Of all of them, Rubie is the one carrying the Tuapeka name back onto the track for the first time under Phil and Mel’s ownership.

She is the fourth foal from Tuapeka Helen, herself a daughter of Somebeachsomewhere, and is by Tall Dark Stranger, a son of Bettor’s Delight. Her maternal family traces back six generations to the Lodge’s long-established Sakuntala bloodlines. Boyd and his stable have been glowing in their early assessments.

“She’s a real nice horse. She’s laid back as anything and easy to do anything with. Steven’s fallen in love with her. The whole stable loves her. She’ll just come into the stables and go to sleep until someone puts the gear on her.”

Her latest trial included a 56-second last half, suggesting there is still considerable improvement to come. Stepping straight into a $60,000 Group race is no easy assignment, but Phil remains philosophical.

“She’ll improve again off that trial. It’s a tough race for her, but you’ve got to give them their chance.”

As for tactics from barrier seven, Phil is leaving that entirely to Orange.

“We’ll leave that up to Blair. As Blair says, barrier seven is only a starting point.”

Should Friday go well, Ashburton in a fortnight is a possibility before decisions are made around her immediate future.

“Steven will decide where she heads next. Whether we give her a freshen up and maybe bring her back in the spring, we’ll just let her tell us.”

The Words That Still Matter

When asked about the lessons Dan passed down, Phil speaks carefully and warmly about the man who shaped so much of Tuapeka Lodge’s identity. There were many lessons, he says, probably enough to fill half a day. But one moment still stands above the rest.

“One thing he said to me just before he died, I was walking out the door and he stopped me and said, ‘Phil, whatever you do, don’t take any risks with the horses.’ Yeah, that’s always stuck with me a little bit.”

Phil believes it was about making sound decisions, doing the homework properly, and protecting the strength of the bloodlines already in place.

“Yeah, and just double-checking yourself. Just look after them, I think.”

That philosophy continues to shape the way Phil and Mel are rebuilding Tuapeka Lodge. There is no appetite for shortcuts or speculative swings. Instead, they are breeding to the best stallions they can access, retaining the fillies they believe in, and allowing the quality of the families to rebuild naturally over time.

“At this stage we’re not taking any risks. We’re just going to the best sires we possibly can and build a team that way.”

The Stay Hungry filly heading to Bob Butt is already catching attention, and Phil is quietly optimistic about what lies ahead.

“The Stay Hungry is looking pretty promising. It’s going back to Bob now. Hopefully we’ll get back on the track and get our name out there a bit more.”

On Friday night at Addington, when Tuapeka Rubie steps onto the track in the Bionic Chance Bracelet, Phil Cummings will be watching from the stands of what he calls “the big smoke”, a long way from Lawrence and the Tuapeka River.

He will be watching a filly bred on the same soil where Dan once walked, trained by people who understand what Tuapeka horses have long represented, and driven by the best reinsman in the country.

“Hopefully there’ll be a few more to come. Hopefully we’ll get back on the track and get our name out there a bit more.”

For a stud built across more than half a century, it feels like an appropriate place for the next chapter to begin.