Grahame Begg is set to have his very first runner in the Melbourne Cup with tough staying mare Lunar Flare securing her place in the race that stops the nation with a stylish win in the Group III VRC Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Winner of the $1million Group II MVRC Moonee Valley Gold Cup last spring, Lunar Flare was fit and ready to fire at her fourth run back from a spell and hit the line well to win by half a length over fast finishing Frankel gelding Francesco Guardi (IRE).
The winner of the Bart Cumming is exempt from ballot in the Melbourne Cup, so it’s full steam ahead for the daughter of 2013 Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente (IRE).
"She's come up really, really good this time and this is the first preparation we've had that we know where she's at because previous preparations we didn't even know where her ceiling was until she won the Moonee Valley Cup last year," said an excited Grahame Begg.
"It will be my first Melbourne Cup runner and it's very exciting.
"This year we set out to have her in the Melbourne Cup if she was good enough, now she's fully qualified so it's terrific."
Bred by Mojo Thoroughbreds, Lunar Flare has the overall record of eight wins and nine palcigns from 32 starts with prizemoney of $1.4million and is a half-sister to the stakes-placegetters Sea of Tranquility and Eagle Command.
She is the best of nine winners from as many to race out of the unraced Encosta De Lago mare My Fair Lago. Another of the nine winners is Lunar Lights, the dam of the Listed VRC Taj Rossi Series Final winner Honey Steel's Gold.
Melbourne Cup hero Fiorente stands at Widden Stud, Victoria, for a fee of $9,900.
