Cumani looks for elusive Cup victory

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

OCTOBER 29, 2013

Cumani looks for elusive Cup victory

by Kelsey Riley

Luca Cumani has trained the winners of Group races in 12 countries and has

handled such international champions as Alkaased, Falbrav, Barathea and Kahyasi,

but one jewel missing from the Bedford House trainer's resume is the Melbourne

Cup (Aus-G1), a fact he will look to rectify November 5 when he saddles Marwan

Koukash's Mount Athos (Montjeu) in the A$6 million race.

This year will mark the eighth time Cumani has participated in the Melbourne

Cup, his best previous finishes being runner-up efforts with Purple Moon in 2007

and Bauer in 2008 and his second straight year with Mount Athos, who closed

strongly down the middle of track to be fifth last year after being hung wide

throughout in the 3,200-meter race.

Cumani, speaking from Melbourne Monday, noted that the six-year-old has come

through his preparations well. He is currently residing at the Werribee

International Horse Center under quarantine with the rest of the international

brigade.

"He's very good," Cumani said. "He traveled well and has settled in well, so

all is good."

A winner of three minor races in Britain as a three-year-old in 2010, Mount

Athos was purchased by Koukash for 190,000 guineas at that year's Tattersall's

Autumn Horses in Training Sale. He was a first-out winner as a four-year-old for

David Wachman in Ireland the following April, but failed to shine in five

outings for that stable thereafter, and was turned over to Cumani at the end of

the season.

What reappeared last year was a different horse, with Mount Athos winning

three straight races including the Geoffrey Freer S. (Eng-G3) at Newbury prior

to his Melbourne Cup voyage. Mount Athos scraped home 12th in the Japan Cup

(Jpn-G1) three weeks after the Melbourne Cup, but made amends with a first-up

nine length victory in the Ormonde S. (Eng-G3) at Chester May 10. A pair of

off-the-board finishes albeit both with legitimate excuses followed in Royal

Ascot's Hardwicke S. (Eng-G2) June 22 and the Goodwood Cup (Eng-G2) August 1,

and he rounded off his preparations for the Cup with an encouraging second-place

finish under top weight in the listed March S. at Goodwood August 24.

Cumani said Mount Athos is in "just as good of form" as last year. Mount

Athos will be ridden by Craig Williams, one of Australia's leading riders, in

the Melbourne Cup. Click

here

for footage of Williams working Mount Athos last week.

Having already trained group winners in Great Britain, Ireland, France,

Italy, Dubai, Canada, the U.S., Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia,

Cumani certainly has the experience to guide Mount Athos through his

international campaign.

Of his reasons for traveling to so many international races, Cumani said:

"I've always held the belief that for racing to get to the next level, it has to

become a truly global sport. Like golf and tennis, they weren't truly global

until they started being spaced on the world stage as opposed to their

individual states, and therefore I've always been a firm believer in the

international races."

With the rising frequency in global travel of horses has come an array of

theories about how to best handle such travel. Cumani noted that over the years,

he has found it helpful to allow his runners to arrive at their destination with

plenty of time to acclimatize.

"The longer the trip the more preparation there has to be, and the longer

recovery time at the other end," he explained. "If you're going to France or

Ireland it's almost the same as racing in England. If you're going to the

States, I'm a believer in going about six days before, just to give the horse

enough time to recover from the trip, and put in a little bit of training just

to make sure he doesn't go into the race out of preparation or not knowing where

he is."

Cumani indicated that even after all that traveling he isn't ready to slow

down yet, and he has his sights set on further overseas victories, including a

target in Germany.

"The only country that we haven't won a Group race in and we haven't raced in

yet is Germany," he said. "We've never had a runner in Germany. I don't know

why, just by coincidence, so I hope that if and when we have a runner there we

can make it 13."

In the meantime, Cumani is hoping to make it a long overdue Melbourne Cup

number one with Mount Athos next week.