Lead Story
Cumani Chases Derby Dream With Single Choice
By Trevor Marshallsea
@ANZ_News
A trainer with a pedigree to win a Derby believes he has a genuine chance to achieve the feat when he saddles Single Choice for one of Australia’s oldest Classics at Morphettville on Saturday. Matt Cumani, son of dual Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Luca Cumani, goes into the South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) with Single Choice, son of dual Group winning sprinter Anders, with the gelding an $11 chance heading into Saturday’s event.
Despite being by a sprinting son of Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) the sireline has indeed proved versatile at middle distance and beyond with the likes of Group 1 South Australian Derby (2400m) winners, Qafila (Not A Single Doubt), Howard Be Thy Name (Redoubt’s Choice) and 2024 Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200) winner Knights Choice (Extreme Choice) to name but a few.
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Single Choice will be aiming to follow in those footsteps and has earned the confidence of his trainer with his victory in the Galilee Series Final (Listed, 2400m) at Flemington last start, his first attempt at the trip at his 10th outing.
Single Choice appears to draw much of his stamina from his dam, Sebring Sally (Sebring), who Cumani came to know while working for her trainer Chris Waller. She was stakes-performed over staying trips, finishing fourth in the Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) after placing in The Roses (Gr 2, 2000m) and winning the Strutt Stakes (Listed, 2100m) in Hobart.
Sebring Sally being by Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Sebring adds another layer of complexity to the pedigree, though there is more stamina further back through the female line, with third dam Donna Cara (Sir Tristram) a Listed winner out to 2100 metres.
Anders’ home farm Widden Stud will no doubt be pleased to see his first-crop son Single Choice adding strings to the stallion’s bow in the way he has, given the young sire’s black type wins came in the San Domenico Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) and The Rosebud (Listed, 1200m).
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“It is a bit odd, given what sort of racehorse Anders was,” Cumani told ANZ News. “But I always lean on the fact Single Choice doesn’t look anything like Anders, in body type or colouring. So in my mind he takes after the mare.
“Still, there’s not really a huge amount on his page that suggests he’ll stay, but here we are in a Derby.”
In any event, when Cumani saw the two-year-old Single Choice at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale of 2024, he felt that physically the gelding before him fitted the mould of the runners he most favours, those who may be able to stretch out over Classic distances.
“He was a lovely type, and I loved his shape,” the Ballarat trainer said.
“He wasn’t big and strong as you might expect an Anders to be. He was a bit finer with a long middle distance horse’s stride, and I particularly remember he had a nice shoulder angle. Plus he was nice and settled and relaxed, which you obviously want in a stayer.
“He had a really long stride, and I liked the way he breezed up as well. They did a good time, and whilst he didn’t win, he was twitching his ears at the finish, having a look around, so he had more in the tank. If he’d needed to he could have kicked a bit more.”
Cumani bought into Anders - whose 2026 fee has dropped to $9,900 after he covered 21 mares at $13,200 last year - though he usually prefers proven sires at sales, with Dundeel (High Chaparral) his well-documented favourite. He’s glad he made an exception this time.
“I generally steer away from first season sires at yearling sales, but at a breeze-up I can take a slightly different approach, because we have more information to go on,” he said.
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“So I’m more happy to take a chance on a stallion we know nothing about, and put a bit more weight to how the horse has performed in the breeze-up.
“Plus I liked the dam. I worked with her at Chris Waller’s, and I just thought at the right price he was a horse we could have a bit of fun with. We probably lucked in because he had a minor issue with a fetlock on an x-ray that might have put some people off, but my vet told me it wouldn’t be a problem at all.”
Bought for $NZ80,000 - around $A65,000 - Single Choice opened his account in a manner more commensurate with his sire in winning a 1200m maiden on the Ballarat synthetic last August by 4.25 lengths, at start No.3.
He then achieved the always difficult task of winning his next start, in a three-year-old benchmark 64 over 1300m at Bendigo, by 0.4 lengths.
But after an educative Sydney trip where he ran a meritorious fifth in strong company in the Tapp-Craig (EDS: Non-black type 1400m), the penny clearly dropped when Single Choice contested the Carbine Club Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) at Flemington on Derby Day. Running as a $31 outsider, he made impressive ground from last of the eight runners to finish third.
“We’ve just let him tell us which way he wants to go,” Cumani said.
“He was able to win over shorter distances as a young three year old. We didn’t jump him up too quickly given his pedigree, but it became pretty clear he needed and wanted further.
“The ultimate push was in the Carbine. Things went his way because they went quickly in front. But he was both left flat footed early, and was able to finish off well, so his stamina came into play late on. That was a final sign, on top of all the others, he could get a bit of distance.
“He’s also got a great temperament which also suggests he can settle anywhere in the field. Wherever you want to put him, he’ll go there. Plus he’s more professional now than in his early days.”
After a spell, Single Choice was stepped up to 1800m on resumption in BM66 class at Caulfield Heath and was unlucky not to snatch it in a 0.02 length second.
He stayed at the same trip second-up and won Caulfield’s Autumn Classic (Gr 2, 1800m). He rose again in distance for the Alister Clark Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) where, forced to work out wide, he ran a pass-mark 2.5 length fifth. Cumani then stepped him up a further 400 metres and revelled in his 1.25 length victory in the Galilee final.
And now to an extra half furlong in the SA Derby, which in 2005 switched to 2500m for no real reason other than deference to Flemington and its track-shape enforced Derby distance.
Cumani will be seeking the holy grail of his first G1 success and to emulate his famous father in becoming a Derby-winning trainer. He’s come close on three occasions in the Flemington edition, with his string of Dundeel (High Chaparral) progeny placegetters Hit The Shot in 2020 and Deal Done Fast last year, and with Kingofwallstreet running fourth in 2024 - all of whom lend fodder to Cumani’s trainers’ tower nickname of ‘Crocodile Dundeel’.
“To win a Group 1 would be enormous for our stable. And to win one, you’ve got to have lots of goes at it,” Cumani said. “The trainers who regularly win the Group 1s are usually the ones who always have runners in Group 1s.
“And to win a Derby would mean a lot to me. I grew up having the Epsom Derby as the pinnacle, the race to win, a stallion-making race in my earlier days, and a race that was vitally important. All my old man’s horses were possible Derby horses when he bought them, and I guess I go about it in a similar way.”
Cumani admits he is hopeful rather than confident of Derby success, still to be fully convinced Single Choice is a genuine stayer. Then again, similar queries once surrounded Knight’s Choice (Extreme Choice) before his Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) success. What the two share is an ability to settle in their races and produce a sharp turn of foot at the end of a staying contest, particularly when the tempo suits.
“His best asset is his ability to settle. He may well not be a true stayer, and we haven’t had a proper test at 2400 or 2500 metres yet,” Cumani said.
“In the Galilee, they went slowly for the first 1400 metres. Hopefully this Derby will be run like that race. It’ll help him if he gets a good barrier, can save ground, and they run a slow first half and he settles well and doesn’t become part of an early rush to the front, which is what usually happens in the SA Derby.
“Then he can bide his time while everyone else makes themselves tired making early moves and possibly reacting off a slow tempo.
“If that’s the case (jockey) Jamie (Mott) can do exactly what he did on him last start - sit and wait until he needs to go, then accelerate to the line. It was his first ride on the horse and he summed him up perfectly.”
Cumani conceded Single Choice had “been beaten in races where things haven’t gone perfectly for him”.
“That could limit his upper end, but then again, he has a similar profile to a lot of good horses, who’ve also won over various distances and have his sort of temperament and character,” he said.
“As an older horse, we’ll do a bit more work on finding exactly what his perfect distance is. It may well be back to 1800 to 2000 metres.
“But we’ll try to get a Derby with him first, and you have to be impressed with what he’s done so far.”
