Cumani opts for Athos switch

Luca Cumani is hoping a change of plan for Mount Athos pays dividends when the stayer lines up for the Coral Marathon at Sandown today.

The Newmarket-based Italian-born trainer had originally targeted the John Smith’s Silver Cup Stakes at York next Saturday but has re-routed the five-year-old to Esher because of an adverse long-range weather forecast.

“He’s very well. Our hand was forced. It wasn’t my target to begin with. I wanted him to go to York next week for the mile-and-six Listed race, but the forecast is so dire for next week as well so I thought we’d better take advantage of the decent ground at Sandown,” Cumani told At The Races.