Cumani pleased with Moon effort

Luca Cumani was pleased with the performance of Purple Moon in the BMW Caulfield Cup on Saturday morning.

The Ebor winner finished sixth in an eventful renewal of one of Australia’s most prestigious races after meeting trouble in running behind the impressive winner, Master O’Reilly.

But the drama before the race slightly overshadowed the action on the track as hot-favourite Maldivan had to be withdrawn after injuring his neck in the stalls and another leading fancy Eskimo Queen also missed out after becoming unsettled in the gate.

It was a day Danny O’Brien will never forget however, because as well as training the impressive winner, he also trains the runner-up, Douro Valley.

Cumani was happy enough with Purple Moon though after the four-year-old had his progress blocked more than once when Kerrin McEvoy tried to make progress in the straight and now all roads lead to the Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 6.

“If he’d had a better position at the beginning and if he’d had a bit more luck in running, he would have been in the first three and that would have been a very, very good trial,” said Cumani.

“As it is, it was a good trial because he blew very little because he only raced hard for the final furlong. He settled down very quickly after the race and he has no cuts, bruises or scratches so we are happy.

“He’s a class horse and he has a turn of foot and I think with those Australian races you need a turn of foot.

“They run very fast to the first bend to get a position and then they saunter round until the last four furlongs when it picks up again so you need a horse with the ability to quicken in an instant,” he told Sky Sports News.

Winning trainer O’Brien confirmed the first two home would now head towards the Melbourne Cup also.

“We’ve won a lot of Group Ones before but obviously this is one of the big majors and one of them you want as a trainer. I can’t believe it’s happened,” O’Brien said.

“It’s the best form ace for the Melbourne Cup and you couldn’t get a better trial than that.”

Princess Coup finished third with the former Roger Charlton-trained Blue Monday in fourth.

Master O’Reilly was immediately promoted to favouritism with most bookmakers for the Melbourne Cup with Stan James a stand-out 5-1, Purple Moon is next in the list at 6-1.