Fiorente (IRE) mare Lunar Flare is at her best at a long distance staying trip and she showed her class when thrashing hot favourite White Marlin (IRE) to win the $500,000 Listed VRC Andrew Ramsden Stakes (2800m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Winner of the $1million Group II MVRC Moonee Valley Gold Cup in 2021, Lunar Flare was ruled out of last year’s Melbourne Cup with a minor foot issue, but may get another shot in November.
She was at the top of her game on Saturday, powering clear to win by five and a half lengths for Michael Dee taking her overall record to nine wins and 11 placings from 37 starts with earnings topping $1.9million.
The win secures her spot in the 2023 Melbourne Cup giving her a chance to emulate the success of her sire Fiorente (GB), who won the Cup in 2013.
“We call her ‘steel’ at home because every time you work her, she just presents and wants to do it,” trainer Grahame Begg said.
“She’s just unbelievable and she’s so sound. She is just amazing."
Begg believes he can get the mare to this year’s Melbourne Cup as an eight year-old.
“She doesn’t know it (her age) and she’s lightly raced,” he said.
“We space her races and don’t over-tax her on the home on the track or whatever. The furthest we ever gallop her is 1200 metres.”
Bred by Mojo Thoroughbreds, Lunar Flare 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 $6,600.
