Luca Cumani

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Luca Cumani (born April 7, 1949 in Milan, Italy) is an Italian thoroughbred horse trainer. He has trained at Bedford House Stables in Newmarket, England since 1976. He has trained a miltitude of high-profile horses, including seven Classic race winners, two Epsom Derby winners in Kahyasi (1988) and High-Rise (1998) as well as a Breeders' Cup Mile winner in Barathea (1994).

As the son of champion amateur jockey Elena and champion trainer Sergio Cumani, horseracing has always been in his blood. He followed in both of their footsteps emulating first his mother and then his father. Realizing that Newmarket is the nucleus of the racing world, Luca moved to England in his early twenties to work for ten-time champion trainer Henry Cecil.

It was not long before he started up his own training establishment at Bedford House and he has not looked back ever since. Within ten years he had 12 Group 1 winners in five different countries and the tally has now risen to 55 up until the present day. Not content with claiming the majority of the big domestic races he has ventured far and wide with globetrotting champions such as Falbrav and Alkaased to win Group 1 races in Hong Kong and Japan respectively.

As well as training an impressive amount of champion racehorses, Luca has also earned quite a reputation as a mentor to jockeys and assistant trainers.

Frankie Dettori, Jimmy Fortune, Jason Weaver, Royston Ffrench and Nicky Mackay are all previous Champion Apprentices that learnt their trade under his tutelage. Christophe Clement, James Toller, Jonathan Portman, Chris Wall, John Berry, David Simcock and Marco Botti are the most well known current trainers that spent a portion of their formative years in the role of assistant trainer to Luca.

[edit] Major wins

Great Britain

Champion Stakes - (1) - Legal Case (1989)
Cheveley Park Stakes - (1) - Embla (1985)
Derby - (2) - Kahyasi (1988), High-Rise (1998)
Eclipse Stakes - (1) - Falbrav (2003)
Fillies' Mile - (3) - Shamshir (1990), Glorosia (1997), Gossamer (2001)
International Stakes - (3) - Commanche Run (1985), One So Wonderful (1998), Falbrav (2003)
Lockinge Stakes - (1) - Then Again (1987)
Nassau Stakes - (1) - Free Guest (1985)
Queen Anne Stakes - (3) - Then Again (1987), Markofdistinction (1990), Barathea (1994)
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes - (3) - Markofdistinction (1990), Falbrav (2003), Starcraft (2005)
St. James's Palace Stakes - (2) - Bairn (1985), Half a Year (1987)
St. Leger - (1) - Commanche Run (1984)
Sun Chariot Stakes - (6) - Free Guest (1984, 1985), Infamy (1987), Red Slippers (1992), One So Wonderful (1997), Kissogram (1998)
Sussex Stakes - (1) - Second Set (1991)
Yorkshire Oaks - (2) - Only Royale (1993, 1994)