‘I’ve got a hunch’ – Cumani explores South African pathway for Australian Classic horses

Well-travelled Victorian trainer Matt Cumani has a theory he believes is worth exploring and it’s taken him to South Africa.

The expatriate Englishman, a Group-winning trainer in Australia, believes the South African thoroughbred could have the edge on the Australasian breed when it comes to three-year-olds capable of competing in Guineas, Derbies and Oaks.

Cumani trains for prominent South African owner and breeder Gaynor Rupert, highlighted by their talented Dundeel colt Deal Done Fast, and he embarked on an “absolute mission” to visit Cape Town last week for the country’s annual Race Coast Premier Yearling Sale.

The trip was for multiple reasons but also to engage owners about his idea of racing South African-breds in Australia.

“I’ve got a bit of an interesting, highly ambitious plan to potentially try and encourage South Africans to race young, staying types in Australia because obviously it’s one of the only countries in the southern hemisphere that you can actually get a horse into Australia from,” Cumani told The Straight. 

“I have a hunch, although it’s a long way from being proven, that perhaps they breed slightly better mile-plus horses than we do in Australia.

“My hope is to bring some young South African-bred horses over to Australia to give it a crack. But obviously it’s not something that we can yet encourage Australians to invest in because we’ve got to prove the concept first. 

“And while we haven’t been able to quite do that this year, I’m hoping that with the contacts I’ve made, I might be able to give it a go next year.”

Cumani may not have been able to get the plan off the ground yet, as “it’s going to be a bit of work to get that project going”, he has “made some good inroads and laid the tracks for it further down the road”.

He also managed to feature on the buyers’ sheet in Cape Town, but the Drakenstein Stud-bred yearling will, for now at least, be staying in South Africa to race.

The trainer purchased a Vercingetorix colt out of Grade 2-winning Amanzimtoti, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Beach Bomb, for R2 million (A$169,907), the equal 10th highest-priced lot of the two-day sale.

He said the colt was “a slightly incidental purchase because he was just such a lovely horse”.

“I thought he was the best colt in the sale of the ones I saw. With a pedigree like that, I had him down as a three to four million rand colt,” he said.

“But he’s got a few challenges. He’s not squeaky clean. He’s got a few challenges as he matures and that’s probably what brought the price down to a more affordable level. 

“He’ll be staying in South Africa, certainly for the moment, and we’re hoping that he can prove to be a good enough racehorse to take internationally (to race).”

The Hong Kong Jockey Club, represented by Danny Rolston and ex-Hong Kong trainer Tony Millard, bought the second highest-priced yearling of the sale, a colt by Rafeef, for R4 million (A$339,813).

If and when Cumani’s plan to import South African-bred horses to race in Australia comes to fruition, he said the United Kingdom would play a role in his audacious concept.

“You’d break them in in South Africa, which is quite cost-effective, and then they would go into the June or July shipment over to Europe and stay there for six months,” the Ballarat-based trainer said. 

“While they’re there, they would be trained as any other European stayer would be trained and then brought over in January or February of their two-year-old year.

“They’d have a little break and a preparation that will see them go all the way to the spring.

“It’s risky, because the flights aren’t exactly guaranteed, but there’s a lot of sport horses flying out of here, a lot of endurance horses, and they tell me that each year they’re adding to the number of shipments.” 

Cumani was part of a travelling party of 12 international thoroughbred industry figures who were in attendance at Cape Town for the Premier Yearling Sale as guests of New Zealand-based South African agent Craig Ramsay.

The expatriate agent has been an active buyer at the Australasian yearling sales over the past 15 months, acting for Owen Heffer, the owner of major South African wagering operator Hollywoodbets.

Other members of the travelling party included Waikato Stud’s Mike Rennie and New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing’s Andrew Birch, while Inglis auctioneer Brett Gilding was also behind the rostrum for the sale.

It wasn’t Cumani’s connection to Drakenstein Stud – the Rupert-owned three-year-old Deal Done Fast is heading to Saturday’s Rosehill Guineas as the lead-up to the Australian Derby – that led to him making the trip to Cape Town on this occasion.

Rather, it was his parents’ connection to Ramsay that saw him receive an invitation to attend last week’s Kenilworth sale.

Cumani’s parents Luca and Sara bred a Wootton Bassett filly out of Tigeen who was bought by Ramsay at last year’s Inglis Melbourne Premier sale for $340,000 out of the Yarraman Park Stud draft.

The southern hemisphere investment by Heffer, who also won the Queen Mother Champion Chase with the Willie Mullins-trained Etait Temps at Britain’s iconic Cheltenham Festival last week, is significant as the portfolio has all been fillies.

Some are daughters of well-known Australian mares Honesty Prevails, Aristia, Dear Demi and New Zealand Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed mare Supera.

Cumani says the South African racing industry is going through somewhat of a revival after facing an “existential crisis for a while there, particularly after COVID”.

“It’s now essentially, certainly on the Western Cape, being brought up by Hollywoodbets and that provides some challenges in itself, having racing owned by a betting operator, but they’ve done fantastic things for the racing industry (in South Africa),” Cumani said.

“And you can certainly feel the buzz that there is here and they’ve still got challenges ahead, but hopefully it’s an industry, for their sake, that is going to grow over the next few years.

“In fact, they’re desperate to increase their foal numbers at the moment, which is interesting and slightly different to what we’re all used to back home.”

Deal Done Fast isn’t Rupert’s first foray into Australian racing, having also co-owned the Robbie Griffiths and Mat de Kock-trained Group 3 winner Let’sbefrankbaby who was subsequently exported to the United States and sold to Yulong entity Willingham Stud for US$700,000.

The Frankel mare is in foal to Justify to southern hemisphere time.