By Bren O'Brien
Matt Cumani steps up his ambition to win his first Group 1 with Dunlani (Dundeel {NZ}) and Declares War (Declaration Of War {USA}) set to contest the Queensland Oaks and Queensland Derby respectively in the next two weeks.
Cumani, who hails from one of world racing's most famous families, has been building his Ballarat-based operation steadily over the past three years and has trained 43 winners so far this season, including stakes-success with 2-year-old Lady Naturaliste (Choisir) in Adelaide in March.
Three-year-old filly Dunlani, a recent Sandown winner, has convinced her trainer that a shot at this Saturday's Queensland Oaks, to be run over 2200m at Doomben, is worthwhile given her recent form.
Matt Cumani pictured with his family and Dunlani after her most recent win at Sandown
"She's coming off winning a benchmark 64 so in theory, she'd be battling a little bit, But I think she's a really big progressive filly, a big rangy type, and I think she’ll continue to improve," Cumani told RSN.
A $100,000 Classic Sale buy for the Riddell family's Rolsworth Pastoral, one of Cumani's key supporters in his fledgling years as a trainer, Dunlani is from the first crop of Dundeel out of Teralani (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), a sister to the Group 1-winning mare Private Steer and a half-sister to multiple Group 1-winning sprinter-miler All Silent (Belong To Me {USA}).
Confined to provincial class in her first campaign, she broke her maiden over 1600m on her home track last October before returning to break her metropolitan duck in a BM64 race at Moonee Valley back in February.
She loomed then as a probable G1 Schweppes Oaks type, but a failure firstly in a mid week Sandown race and then in her step up to stakes company in the G3 Auraria S. had Cumani scratching his head.
Freshening her up, she rediscovered her best form on the Sandown Hillside track two weeks ago, and a shot at another Oaks, this one in Brisbane, was back on the radar.
Dunlani was a $100,000 Inglis Classic Sale purchase
"If you draw a line through the two poor performances this prep, at Sandown and at Morphettville, you can put some pretty good excuses forward for those runs. At Sandown, she got caught out the back at Lakeside, you can't afford to do that and she let them get away from her," he said.
"At Morphettville, she got stuck in a pocket, and by the time she got out, the field had got away from her and that was 1800m, she always needed a little further."
Cumani is confident that the 2200m at Doomben is the right situation for Dunlani to put her best foot forward.
"They might roll along a bit quicker. She's in good form. It might be a bit tough, but we are going to give it a go," he said.
"I’d be happy to let her roll along a bit and try to mitigate against her throwing her race away by pulling hard early."
Jordan Childs, who has ridden six winners for Cumani this season, will take the ride.
Preparing for War
Declares War raced himself into Queensland Derby contention with his Flemington win over 2000m on May 18.
Cumani came together with Domain Thoroughbreds and Boomer Bloodstock to buy the colt for $62,000 at the 2017 Magic Millions Sale and he has rewarded them by winning $265,270 in his ten starts, including four wins.
Out of Kristeva (Encosta De Lago), a full-sister to multiple Group-winner Vocabulary, he notched a hat-trick of wins in his first campaign but after struggling in a couple of black-type races in the early autumn, Cumani made the decision to geld him.
Declares War as a yearling
Cumani was pondering whether to try and pick up some prizemoney through the Victorian winter, but the win at Flemington changed his mind.
"I was looking at him as a horse that the options were to continue in the Victorian winter in the 3-year old races or give him a spell and I was leaning towards giving him a spell. But after that race, which he won quite well, we looked at the potential field for the Derby and it looked like it had opened up," he said.
"After that race, which he won quite well, we looked at the potential field for the Derby and it looked like it had opened up." - Matt Cumani
"I’d hesitate to say it was weak, because Group 1s are never weak but I think it’s not what you come to expect of a normal Group 1."
The market for the Queensland Derby, to be held at Eagle Farm on June 8, received a major shake-up last weekend with several leading contenders failing to flatter in the G3 Grand Prix S. in Brisbane, while the likes of Nobu (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}) and Carif (So You Think {NZ}) put their cases forward with strong performances at Randwick.
It has given Cumani additional confidence heading Declares War towards the $600,000 race.
"We’ve got a horse that has returned to form now. He's still got a summer coat, unbelievably and he's come out of that race well," he said.
"He's on the fourth or fifth line of the betting. I think it's not often you get a chance to have a horse in the Derby. I think the owners will love it and he's not got a bad chance."
Craig Williams will take the ride on Declares War, who will spell up in Queensland after the run.
Declares War winning at Flemington
Continuing the Derby tradition
Certainly winning Derbies is something the Cumani family knows something about. His famous father Luca won The G1 Derby at Epsom twice, with Kahyasi (Ire) (Ile De Bourbon {USA}) - who was also an Irish Derby winner, in 1988 and High Rise (Ire) (High Estate {Ire}), ten years' later.
Even if the couple of shots at the Group 1 stumps don't come up with the goods in the next couple of weeks, Cumani is confident he’ll be back there in the near future.
One More Try (Dane Shadow) recently resumed at Flemington and could measure up to top level in time having won five of her 11 starts.
"She's a really nice genuine mare and I think she can be really exciting," he said.
Cumani has also taken over the training of Duretto (GB) (Manduro {GB}), the multiple European stakes-winner who ran a terrific race when fourth in the G1 Caulfield Cup for Andrew Balding before going amiss.
Duretto during his recent spell at Daisy Hill in Victoria
He is back in work and is headed towards the major spring handicaps.
"He is a very, very exciting horse to have in the stable. He's come back in in the last two or three days and if we can get him back to previous form, he'll be our best horse in the yard," he said.
"He's obviously a bit of a soft-boned horse. He needs a bit of gentle care so we have given ourselves every chance to build him up gently and we'll give him a run in August and we can head to the nice staying races in the spring."
