English trainer Luca Cumani watched his first Melbourne Cup runner Glistening plod into 10th in last year's big race and vowed to learn his lesson.
Rule number one: always give an overseas horse a leadup run in Australia.
Reference point: Irish-trained Media Puzzle, who won the Geelong Cup-Melbourne
Cup double in 2002, and Japanese pair Delta Blues and Pop Rock, who ran big races in last year's Caulfield Cup before running the quinella at Flemington.
"There's no point growing older unless you grow wiser," the Italian-born Cumani said yesterday. "Having seen the Japanese horses and Media Puzzle do it, I thought 'when in Rome'."
Purple Moon had his first look at Flemington yesterday, giving a maiden mate a 10 length hiding over 1200m in a time rated only average by trackwork watchers.
Damien Oliver, who won aboard Media Puzzle, was happy after his first ride on the visitor. "He's not as big as Media Puzzle but light on his feet."
