Former pilot Cunha charts new territory as one-time reject Prague proves worth
From a stud farm in South Africa to the winners’ enclosure on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile with a 10-year stint as an airline pilot along the way, Dylan Cunha has enjoyed one of the more unconventional racing journeys and it scaled a new peak on Friday as Prague, the third-favourite of four runners, gave the trainer a first British Group Two success in the £125,000 Joel Stakes.
The £71,000 first prize for Prague’s latest win alone represents a huge return on the £10,000 that Cunha paid for the colt – a son of Galileo, no less – as an unraced three-year-old reject from the all-powerful Coolmore Stud operation last October.
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It was the second victory in a five-race career which started only in June, achieved thanks to an enterprising ride by Danny Tudhope, and it could now persuade Amedeo Dal Pos, Prague’s owner, to stump up a supplementary entry fee for the Group One Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Champions Day in October.
Cunha has already saddled a winner at the highest level in his native South Africa, but swapped licences to become a commercial pilot soon afterwards. “I was young and I wasn’t enjoying it,” he said. “I had a pilot’s licence and took it up full time. I travelled the world for a long time, basically until Covid hit, when the airline I was working for went bankrupt.”
Cunha moved to Britain planning to join Ryanair, “but pilots were still being made redundant so I started training here in Newmarket with three horses and it’s been brilliant”.
The earliest recruits to Cunha’s yard were all as cheaply bought as Prague, and included the useful handicapper Silver Sword, a winner at last summer’s Ebor meeting at York, for £11,000. He is a 25-1 shot for the Cambridgeshire Handicap at Newmarket on Saturday, with a first prize of £90,000.
“I think the key to it all is that we are good buyers of horses, for no money,” Cunha said. “He had a fracture on his fetlock which put him in the sales, but we’ve never had a problem with him. He was sound, he passed the vet and came in and started trotting the next day.
“We looked at a lot of horses and we never thought we’d get him. We had a 15 grand budget, and we got him for 10.
“It [the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes] is a discussion we’re going to have tonight. If not, we’ll give him a break and come back for the [Group One] Lockinge [next spring], but personally, I’d be leaning towards supplementing him.”
Where to look in Cambridgeshire?
The average price of the winner over the last 10 runnings of the Cambridgeshire Handicap – a decade which includes the 9-2 success of Lord North, a future Group One winner, in 2019 – is just under 25-1, and the prospect of gluey ground at Newmarket will only increase the bookies’ hopes of getting another result on Saturday.
It would be easy to compile a 20-horse long list and still overlook the eventual winner, but with so many variables to consider, it might pay to side with a horse with impeccable big-field credentials in David Menuisier’s Toimy Son (3.40).
He is unproven at this nine-furlong trip but has a hold-up running style that will give him every chance to get home, while the instant acceleration that carried him to victory in the Golden Mile at Goodwood will be a potent weapon at the end of what seems sure to be a strongly run race.
Newmarket 1.15: The ground is a big question mark for most of these juvenile fillies but Naina won her maiden on soft going in July and ran her best race yet to win at Yarmouth last time.
Haydock 1.30: The early 6-1 about Gavin Cromwell’s Earls could be worth taking given the likelihood that this race has been the target since his course win on heavy ground in April.
Haydock 1.30 Earls (nb) 2.05 Sir William 2.40 Nariko 3.15 Jer Batt 3.50 Music Piece 4.25 Tactical Plan 5.00 Three Dons
Ripon 1.35 Leblon Girl 2.10 2.45 Count D’Orsay 3.20 Quest For Fun 4.00 Hurstwood 4.40 Thornaby Pearl 5.15 Creatif 5.50 Merrijig
Newmarket 1.15 Naina 1.50 Puppet Master 2.25 Daylight 3.00 Whistlejacket 3.40 Toimy Son (nap) 4.15 Wild Angel 4.45 Fifty Nifty
Market Rasen 2.53 Listentoyourheart 3.30 Liam Swagger 4.05 Ginger Pointe 4.35 Our Champ 5.10 Small Bad Bob 5.45 United Front 6.15 Saddlers Quest
Chelmsford 4.10 Bascinet 4.50 Mehmasself And I 5.25 Sapphire Valley 6.00 Shamador 6.30 One Road 7.00 The Waiting Game 7.30 Time Patrol 8.00 Diligent Henry 8.30 Bold Suitor.
Newmarket 1.50: Puppet Master posted a useful time when easing four lengths clear of his field at Galway last time and that run on soft ground makes him the percentage call here.
Newmarket 2.25: Two unbeaten Group One-winning fillies in opposition in Babouche and Lake Victoria, and Ger Lyons’s Phoenix Stakes winner looks a worthy favourite. She was the only filly in the field that day and posted a strong time to see off Whistlejacket, the favourite for the Middle Park Stakes on this card.
Curragh 2.35: Aidan O’Brien is looking for a 22nd career success in this Group Two contest and Trinity College, who pulled 12 lengths clear of his field last time, could be the pick of his two runners.
Newmarket 3.00: A 50% strike-rate might look a little underwhelming given that Whistlejacket has started favourite for all six of his races, but he has been keeping strong company while improving by the run, and was off the mark at Group One level last time.
Haydock 3.15: The progressive Wiltshire will be a popular pick but is unproven on testing ground and Jer Batt, back to form over this track and trip last time, makes more appeal at the prices.
