Bengal Boy, a son of Dundeel, successfully broke his maiden on Saturday in the Listed Galilee Series Final at Sandown for trainer Matt Cumani and connections, and will now head straight to the Group 1 South Australian Derby.
Bengal Boy had not won a race until Saturday, but as he was bought as a Derby prospect, he wasn’t supposed to show his best until he got to a trip and so it was on Saturday.
Stepping to the 2400m for the first time of the Galilee Final, Bengal Boy finished hard for jockey Billy Egan to narrowly tip out the second favourite Midnight Glow, with the favourite Northern Barrage fading into third place.
Trainer Matt Cumani, who went to $280,000 to secure Bengal Boy as a yearling, said the victory was most satisfying. “It’s great that a horse that we’ve been able to buy and follow all the way through … as a colt he was a bit tricky, but he’s finally pulling it together now,” he said.
“A derby is what we’ve always been aiming for. The South Australian Derby, we’ve come third in it before and are yet to win one. A Derby is a race my father (Luca) did very well in, and I’d like to do it. We’ll start with the SA Derby and, hopefully, this horse is the right horse for it.”
Bengal Boy has pulled up well after his run at Sandown and will now be ticking over in his training, possibly with a soft jumpout inbetween, until he travels over the border for the race on May 13.
A great journey for connections as he starts in a Group 1 at only his 7th start!
Part of the above is an exert of Andrew Eddy’s Racing.com article, which can be read in full here.