Racing
Sandown outing for Tempesti
Italian-bred galloper Tempesti lines up for his second Australian start when he heads to Sandown.
Trainer Matt Cumani is hoping the second outing of Italian-bred galloper Tempesti ends better than his Australian debut.
Tempesti heads to the Sportsbet Race Replays Handicap (1800m) at Sandown on Saturday having beaten only three horses home at Flemington in March.
That day Tempesti was galloped on during the race and suffered a nasty wound that if one millimetre deeper may have resulted in the gelding losing his life.
Tempesti has since rebounded winning an Ararat jump-out over 1300m on May 12.
"He's had the one run here and got galloped on badly and he's very lucky to come out of it alive," Cumani said.
"It went very close to the tendon, probably a millimetre away from severing the tendon, so that disrupted the plan a little bit.
"We were looking at something like the Wagga Cup with him."
Tempesti competed successfully in Italy and Germany before Cumani purchased the horse while holidaying in Italy last year.
Cumani has Italian heritage with his father Luca Cumani, a champion UK trainer, born in Milan while his grandparents on his father's side were both champions in their own right.
"He's a lovely horse," Cumani said.
"It's a real pleasure to have a horse whose family was bred by Frederico Tesio himself and this horse used to run in the Tesio colours.
"It's got quite a strong historical link for me."
Cumani concedes the 1800m on Saturday is going to be short of Tempesti's best and the trainer is looking at the Banjo Patterson Series for the stayers during winter.
A winner of nine of his 20 starts, Tempesti has a high rating which Cumani said will make the gelding a little difficult to place.
But a winter program that may lead to The Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington in October, a Melbourne Cup qualifier, is in the planning.
"I think he is a horse that will thrive over a further distance," Cumani said.
"Ideally, he's working up to a distance of 2400 metres.
"In earlier days, they used to think he was best over 2000 metres, but he does have good form over further and to me he looked a little one-paced.
"Having said that, in that run when he got gallop on, he finished off really well. He had really good closing sectionals.
"He's a nice horse and it's good to get him back to the races.
"It's a nice distance in terms of stepping him up in trip, but if we get the rain, he loves it, so it could work for him."
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