Race Result:

1st: Lunar Flare (Graeme Begg/Michael Dee) - $6.00
2nd: Francesco Guardi (Chris Waller/Crag Newitt) - $21.00
3rd: Interpretation (Ciaron Maher and David Eustace/Craig Williams) - $3.90

Winning Time: 2:36.67  Last 600m: NA

Margins: Long Neck x ½ Length

Lunar Flare had strong market support & races away with The Bart Cummings @Grahame_Begg @FlemingtonVRC pic.twitter.com/MEvXMMZQAD

— Racing.com (@Racing) October 1, 2022

 

Winning Trainer: Grahame Begg

On the mare: "Not many horses pass her when she lets go. If you go back and have a look at all her runs, not many horses pass her in the straight.

On today's race: "She got a great run (today) an the barrier helped her a lot I guess.

"It was a great ride, he rode her to perfection. 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.

"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."

On the preparation: "That's only her third run up this time in, so she's still peaking. She'll go to the Moonee Valley Cup in three weeks time, she likes that little bit of a space between her runs and then 12 days into the Melbourne Cup.

On his Melbourne Cup record: "This will be my first runner. It is (great) for the stable, they've done a wonderful job presenting her here on the day and I thank the ownership group, they've been very understanding and have helped us along."

Winning Jockey: Michael Dee

On the horse: "Probably a bit similar to that mare earlier (Exilida), I think she's come into her own and she's in the best form of her career, albit she's got good form on the board.

"This prep she's just taken everything in her stride and those first-up runs there at Caulfield, things just didn't go her way or to her liking. We had the draw today which suited us and we were able to ride her a little bit closer and get the right runs through.

"When she's in amongst them like that she really shows a great turn of foot and has a strong will to win."

On on-pacer Desert Icon being a late scratching: "I didn't have to change anything of what I was going to do but midway through I still wished he was still in because they just kept getting gradually slower and slower throughout but we were able to get a nice run through and she was too good.

On her ability to run 3200m: "It's probably the unknown but she's very strong on the line there so I think with this run and potentially another run under her belt she won't race so fresh.

"She just needs speed on so she can relax. If there's no speed she gets tugging a little bit."