Gelded Italian import Tempesti to continue improvement for Matt Cumani at Sandown on Saturday
Like the Rocky movie combatant, Ballarat trainer Matt Cumani found his Italian Stallion difficult to handle.
Apollo Creed lost his heavyweight title in Rocky II. Tempesti lost his stallion status after Cumani had him gelded a few weeks after the Italian Derby runner-up started work in Australia.
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'In Italy, they told me he was a very straightforward and very well behaved horse but Australia is very different with all the stables being open-aired and all the horses passing in front of them,' Cumani said.
'We sort of sold him as the Italian Stallion and he very much lived up to that name and he got very overexcited on the track, on the barn and everywhere to the extent where he was almost too dangerous.
'We hadn't even got to jumpouts and racing yet, so we hadn't even experienced tie-ups, the clerks of the course or anything like that.
'After about four weeks of training and giving him a good go as a colt, we decided we had to geld him.'
The new version of Tempesti has impressed Cumani with his attitude in his two jumpouts and two races in his care.
Tempesti was an easy winner at Group 2 level on a heavy track in Italy in 2023.
Tempesti finished in the second half of the field at his Australian debut at Flemington in March but indicated his promise when running on well for third over 1800m at Sandown last month.
Cumani said spacing Tempesti's runs was crucial to the six-year-old performing at his best, which meant bypassing a 2000m race at Flemington last Saturday to tackle Saturday's 1800m contest at Sandown.
'I actually thought his first run here in Australia was quite good, even if it didn't look visually impressive,' Cumani said.
'But if you look at the times, his finish was actually pretty good in a decent race.
'The only thing is that I would have loved to have stepped him up to 2000m in his next race but he's a horse that seems to thrive off not much racing.
'I didn't want to go two weeks into his next run, which was the 2000m at Flemington last weekend.
'But given he ran so well over 18 (00m), I was happy to give him another go at it'
Cumani said he would like Tempesti to race 'a pair or two closer' to the lead from barrier six at Sandown.
He added Tempesti could be competitive in minor stakes races over 2000m in the spring provided the Italian Group 2 winner gets conditions to suit.
Tempesti is unbeaten in six starts on heavy ground in his homeland.
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