While Matt Cumani has demonstrated success with horses over shorter distances, he possesses a particular aptitude for training stayers, and Autumnheat exemplifies this skill.
The Ballarat-based trainer is optimistic that the five-year-old gelding can replicate the achievement of Team Captain, who secured victory in the Australian Heritage Cup (2800m) in 2021. Five years later, Cumani aims for a similar springboard effect from two recent wins before the horse contests the secondary staying event at Flemington on Tuesday.
Autumnheat delivered an impressive performance when winning a benchmark 84 race at Caulfield over 2400m on October 14. Cumani is hopeful that the increase in distance will again prove beneficial.
“It is a bit of a concern just because everything in his last race was perfect,” Cumani admitted. “The rail was out a fair way and it was a Caulfield, a nice tight leaders track, and Flemington is a completely different story plus the extra step in distance to 2800 is tricky.”
He continued, “But, I am hopeful the rest of the jockeys let us do our thing and go to the lead but, frankly, I think they would be mad to take us on early. My horse just won’t stop so I think they will just have to let us go and if we can do a steadily improving tempo throughout which hopefully we can get him off the bridle like we did last start.”
Autumnheat has a commendable record, with four wins and four placings from 18 starts, achieving a career-high Racing and Sports rating of 96.
“He is a horse I’ve always liked,” Cumani stated. “I ran him in the Victoria Derby when he was a three-year-old but unfortunately he had a known wind problem then and we had to operate on that. He had run so well in the Vase before that so we had to give it a go.”
Cumani concluded his assessment by saying, “He was never going to stay with that issue but now with that operation done, he can keep getting better and better. Anyone who is going to take us on for the lead on Tuesday is on a suicide mission.”
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