DUCA’S RIGHT AT HOME BEING THE HUNTER
DUCA Valentinois is shooting for another $180,000 Listed Scone Cup (1600m) win today for trainer James Cummings whose confidence levels in the seven-year-old always rise when he gets him to the Hunter region. The 43-start veteran first visited Scone’s carnival in 2016 when he ran fourth to Loving Home in a Benchmark race.
He returned a year later to win the Scone Cup before running second in the race last year.
“He’s shown that this is his time of the year,” Cummings said. Duca Valentinois caught the eye at his first-up run at Randwick behind Mahalangur over 1400m when running a close fifth after flashing home from 10th on the turn.
“He’s training beautifully ahead of this assignment,” Cummings said. “He’s only second-up going to the mile but he’s been great around the stable and I’m happy that he’s ready to run a race at this trip so soon in his prep.”
But he’s got a stack of top rivals to face including Matthew Smith’s Fierce Impact who also produced a great last start effort behind Pierata in the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m).