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Larry every wood has it's own bending properties. Years ago there was a sapele lumber from a tree with awesome figure. It became know as Brain Sapele. Many beautiful guitars were built from this tree. I'm sure there were many failures too. Most folks have had success using Super Soft II. There used to be a tutorial here describing the method used. Your radius seemed awful tight making the bend very difficult. Alo the grain of Sapele is intertwined causing the lifting you experienced. Maybe as time goes on you can practice bending some sapele sides. Here is a link to that Brain Sapele.
http://www.edroman.com/customshop/wood/sapele.htm

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WOW on that wood. REALLY appreciate all the great advice and yes the bend was tight but I think no more than most Florentines - the pics are probably deceiving and the maple bent very easily at the same radius. I think the biggest takeaway is to test different woods that might be marginal before committing an intended Florentine to becoming a Venetian cutaway.

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