Cummings has one El of a galloper

A second Victoria Derby win has suddenly started to float around in trainer Anthony Cummings’ head since Oct 26.

That day, favourite El Castello held off all comers to record a gallant win in the A$2 million (S$1.8 million) Group 1 Moet & Chandon Spring Champion Stakes (2,000m) for 3YOs at Randwick.

Cummings always had the trip down south towards the race he won with Fiveandahalfstar in 2012 at the back of his mind.

He just did not say it out loud, preferring to wait for the Spring Champion to commit towards the quick one week back-up.

While his legendary father Bart was famous for his short one-liners, Cummings is comparatively more volubile. But when put on the spot after the win, he was still beating about the bush, albeit the hint was less subtle this time.

“I’d like to think it’s a good idea,” he said when probed about the A$2 million Group 1 Victoria Derby (2,500m) coming up on Nov 2.

“We spoke to Flemington early this week, so we just wait and see what comes of it.

“We’ve got to get him home, he’s got to eat up okay, do well out of this and be the right horse tomorrow before we go anywhere.”

Cummings is entitled to stay conservative even if the temptation for another shot is alluring. Heading into the Spring Champion, even coming off a two-in-a-row including the Group 3 Gloaming Stakes (1,800m) at his last start on Oct 12, El Castello was still suspect at the trip given his relatively unexposed bloodlines on the sire side.

A gaggle of nemeses were also presented with strong cases ahead of the last Group 1 race on Sydney’s Spring Racing Carnival, including Swiftfalcon, his fast-closing Gloaming runner-up.

But El Castello managed to adroitly outmanoeuvre at least two adverse sets of circumstances in the running to finish at the thicker end of the prize money and give his sire Castelvecchio a first Group 1 win.

The first “death trap”, as Cummings called it, was coming off the backstraight when he was among the early leaders, and could have been caught deeper than necessary.

The second banana skin was when Zac Lloyd decided to throw a cat among the pigeons on the rank-outsider Flying Argento at the 600m. They speared over to the lead, but Josh Parr sat as quiet as a churchmouse on El Castello.

Cummings hailed those two turning points as “sensible” riding from the underrated jockey.

“He’s a very good horse, and Josh Parr rode a sensible race,” he said.

“The race got a little bit messy at one point. Both the horse and Josh coped with it really well.

“He didn’t get flustered and produced him at the right time, and as these things happened, he was very strong to the line.

“A horse kicked up underneath him, but he was more positive than I expected. It made him work a little more in that first furlong.

“It usually is a bit of a death trap here. We had to work out going into that straight from a wide gap but he was able to overcome that.

“He really switched off through the middle stages, he gives himself that chance to balance properly and was always up for the challenge.

“I think the experience and the confidence in the horse and just knowing what you’ve got underneath – all these things come together in these kinds of situation.”

Parr said he went in riding El Castello as the best horse in the race, and to just trust him.

“I had so much confidence in him. He allowed me to just lean on him early and go with the speed,” said the Sydney hoop.

“When that horse took off down the side there, I was able to just tell him: no, let’s just wait, let’s just cool our jets for a little while.

“When he let rip, he was so strong to the line.”

manyan@sph.com.sg