barathea memories burn bright

By Dave Ord, sportinglife.com

For Luca Cumani it was the highlight of a training career. For Frankie Dettori the moment his talent was propelled onto the world stage. Barathea's 1994 win in the Breeders' Cup turf still burns bright in the memory.

For the trainer it was one of those magic trips, where every piece of the jig-saw slotted into place.

"We had a very, very good trip with the horse. Preparations went very well and everything went incredibly smoothly," he said.

Barathea had finished fifth in the previous renewal of the race at Santa Anita, and that experience proved crucial.

"The fact he had run in the Breeders' Cup the previous year was definitely a benefit to him - and to me as well," Cumani said.

"I learned you need to do more preparation on teaching horses to go round sharp bends. The turf tracks are inside the dirt ones in America and are very tight. We aren't used to that in England so we needed to prepare better for Churchill Downs."

It was race factors rather than travel ones that had occupied the trainer's thoughts on the way to Kentucky.

"Horses travel very well to the States now, it isn't too long a journey. They are a little jet-lagged for a couple of days and then after that they are away and enjoying it," he said.

So how did the three lengths defeat of Johann Quatz feel for the man who had masterminded it?

"His win in the Mile was one of the very best moments of my training career. You could see from a fair way out, moving into the bend, that he was travelling very well. Then, when he came into the straight and Frankie moved him into the open he quickened right away. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life."

Very little was left to chance in preparing Barathea for his date with destiny - but it helped that the horse was considered ideal for the task in hand.

"He was the right type for the race. In all Breeders' Cup races, with such a short straight, you need a horse who has the ability to get into a good position from the start. They must be able to travel well and then accelerate over a short distance in the straight. Barathea did that."

It also helped that the 1994 meeting was staged at Churchill Downs, a venue Cumani feels plays to the European's strengths.

"The turf is the most similar to European turf that you would find in America. If it is firm it rides like a firm course in England while even if it rains and is described as soft, it never gets worse than what we'd call good to soft here. Even the dirt seems more suited to grass horses. It has more consistency than is often the case. It isn't the loose dirt you often find in America.

"The climate also helps. Horses don't like a sudden change in climate although that said, this year, it has been so warm in England that even if the Breeders' Cup was in California it wouldn't be that much of a problem. When we ran Falbrav there he handled it well. Horses by and large though prefer to travel to a warmer climate rather than colder one."