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Melbourne Cup hopeful Lunar Flare trials nicely at Cranbourne

8 August 2023 Written by Racing & Sports

Lunar Flare was among those that trialled at Cranbourne in preparation for their spring assaults.

Trainer Grahame Begg was delighted with how his Melbourne Cup contender came through there trials at Cranbourne in preparation for her spring return. 

Lunar Flare trialled over 1000m on Monday, on a track that was rated slow. 

With a berth in the Group 1 Lexus Melbourne Cup already assured courtesy of her win in the Listed Andrew Ramsden Stakes (2800m) at Flemington in May, Lunar Flare was not let off the bridle in her trial when sixth to Dubai Poet

"She trialled beautifully. She wasn't put under any pressure. The track was chopping out and we were very mindful of that being her first trial bac," Begg said. 

"We wanted to look after her and get her a nice ease into her preparation. She came through it very well, pulled-up good in the wind. 

"In two weeks' time, hopefully there will be another jump-out, probably over 1200 metres, and then we will be looking at running her first-up." 

Begg has picked out the Group 2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley on September 9 as a kick-off point for Lunar Flare's spring campaign. 

Begg said he hopes to run Lunar Flare in either the Group 1 Cup (2400m) or the Cox Plate as her final lead up ahead of the Lexus Melbourne Cup on November 7. 

Lunar Flare wintered in Queensland and did some pre-training up north before travelling back to Melbourne for her Spring campaign.