Cummings, his brother Peter and sister Julie Davie are no strangers to breeding winners, and Ideal Scott - who won the 4yr-old pacing colts and geldings division of the Breeders Crown at Melton in Victoria on Sunday - traces back to one of their best brood mares, Maureens Dream.
The American Ideal gelding is a grandson of Maureens Dream, being out of the Falcon Seelster mare Tuapeka Wings.
But, as Cummings explains, he was not getting too carried away with Ideal Scott as he prepared the then colt for the 2010 New Zealand premier yearling sales in Christchurch.
''He was a nice type but there was nothing that made me think he had that potential compared with the rest of them,'' Cummings said.
''I tend to like them all, really. He was correct and straight and a nice size and he had a good temperament, but he sold for $19,000, so there wasn't a great boom on him.''
Cummings, who has the job of matching pedigrees and pre-training the youngsters, tends to send one or two of his 10 mares each year to a new sire - although there was another vote of confidence in American Ideal that prompted Cummings to try him out.
''When you're in breeding, you can't go for proven sires all the time or no-one goes to new ones,'' he said.
''I have a friend in America who is a professional punter. He liked American Ideal very much, and I put quite a lot of store by the things he says.
''I was wondering whether [American Ideal] was not going to quite make it, but in the last month here, in Australia and in America, he's really lifted his game.''
And if you're a stallion looking to lift your game, there are few better stages than Breeders Crown finals day.
Ideal Scott headed home Besotted, also by American Ideal, in their group 1 stoush and fellow American Ideal product Bling It On did the business in the juvenile males category.
Tuapeka Wings produced one more foal after Ideal Scott, a Washington VC colt, but died soon after. However, Cummings has Ideal Scott's half-sister Real Wings (by Badlands Hanover) to breed from, and she will drop her first foal by American Ideal later this year.
''It's not a difficult decision to make, that one.''
Ideal Scott has now provided two of Tuapeka Lodge's recent highlights after his 2012 Northern Derby win and Cummings reckons that will keep him in the game a bit longer.
''Just from the enjoyment point of view, it's marvellous, but if you don't have one like that coming through every now and then, you don't keep hanging around.''
Cummings is also eagerly awaiting a couple of Somebeachsomewhere foals after the Canadian-bred sire continued his onslaught on the Australasian pacing scene with Whereibylong winning the Breeders Crown 2yr-old fillies final.
''I've got two in foal to him, and I'll be putting one or two back to him.
''You could do with a paddock of them.''
