Group 3 winner Kingofwallstreet one of three possible 2024 Victoria Derby runners for Matt Cumani

Kingofwallstreet has quickly developed into one of the top performers at Matt Cumani’s Ballarat stable, drawing a lot of attention from grateful owners and stable staff.

Cumani said Kingofwallstreet was fine with looking … just not touching.

“He does get a bit pissed off when there’s a bit of petting going on,” Cumani said.

“He gets a bit angry with that but as soon as you leave him alone, he’s fine.”

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Kingofwallstreet has only had three starts but went from a midfield finish in a Pakenham Synthetic maiden to a Group 3 win over 2000m in the space of six weeks.

Cumani said the son of Dundeel, who was beaten as a $2.70 favourite in the 2012 Victoria Derby, wasn’t the biggest horse in the field but he had a great mental approach to his work.

“He’s a horse that has matured very, very quickly,” Cumani said.

“He’s a small, compact horse and looked like the finished article some time ago. As a result, he handled everything brilliantly.

“In his gallops, he just switches off beautifully, moves up when you ask him and doesn’t do too much or too little.

“He’s just got a great mind on him, and I think that will hold him in great stead at Flemington.”

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Kingofwallstreet outlasted fellow Victoria Derby candidates Keeneland and China Sea to win the Group 3 Caulfield Classic at his last outing.

The colt prevailed in a tough three-way finish to the $200,000 race but Cumani said Kingofwallstreet showed no signs he’d had a race two days after the Caulfield contest.

“He came through the Caulfield run very well,” Cumani said.

“He never left an oat, and he was fresh two days after the race.”

The impressive recovery from his last run has earned the three-year-old some more work leading into Saturday’s $2 million feature.

“We’re probably going to gallop him more than I was planning to gallop him,” Cumani said.

“He’s still got a couple of mils of fat over his ribs, so I think he’ll handle a fair bit of work going into it.”

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Cumani hoped to have three runners in the Victoria Derby with Autumnheat and Cecchetti among the 24 entries for the Flemington race.

Both Autumnheat and Cecchetti are lightly raced maiden gallopers but Autumnheat pleased Cumani with his fifth in last Saturday’s Group 2 Moonee Valley Vase.

“I thought he ran a blinder,” Cumani said.

“He ran fifth but if he’d got out a bit earlier, he might have run third or fourth.

“Whether he stays or not, that is still a question.”

Kingofwallstreet is the shortest of Cumani’s trio at $15 in Ladbrokes’ Victoria Derby market.

Originally published as Group 3 winner Kingofwallstreet one of three possible 2024 Victoria Derby runners for Matt Cumani