While skilled with sprinters, trainer Matt Cumani also demonstrates a particular talent with stayers, and Autumnheat is a prime example of this.

The Ballarat-based Cumani is hopeful that the five-year-old gelding can mirror the success of Team Captain’s victory in the Australian Heritage Cup (2800m) back in 2021. Five years on, he aims for a similar springboard from two recent wins before tackling the secondary staying feature at Flemington on Tuesday.

Autumnheat put in an impressive performance, winning a benchmark 84 event at Caulfield over 2400m on October 14. Cumani is optimistic that the increased distance will prove beneficial once more.

“It is a bit of a concern just because everything in his last race was perfect,” Cumani said. “The rail was out a fair way and it was a Caulfield, a nice tight leaders track, and Flemington is a completely different story plus the extra step in distance to 2800 is tricky.”

He continued, “But, I am hopeful the rest of the jockeys let us do our thing and go to the lead but, frankly, I think they would be mad to take us on early. My horse just won’t stop so I think they will just have to let us go and if we can do a steadily improving tempo throughout which hopefully we can get him off the bridle like we did last start.”

With a record of four wins and as many placings from 18 starts, Autumnheat achieved a career-best Racing and Sports rating of 96.

“He is a horse I’ve always liked,” Cumani added. “I ran him in the Victoria Derby when he was a three-year-old but unfortunately he had a known wind problem then and we had to operate on that. He had run so well in the Vase before that so we had to give it a go.”

Cumani elaborated, “He was never going to stay with that issue but now with that operation done, he can keep getting better and better. Anyone who is going to take us on for the lead on Tuesday is on a suicide mission.”

For those looking to back Autumnheat, check out the latest Australian betting sites for the best odds.