It is hard to believe that Lunar Flare will be Grahame Begg’s first Melbourne Cup runner.
Begg is a famous racing name. Grahame’s father, Neville, ran second nine times to Tommy Smith in the Sydney trainers’ premiership in the 1970s and ’80s, the mighty grey Emancipation his best horse.
Grahame learned the family trade with his dad before taking out his own licence in 1990, training at Randwick until, in 2014, he decided to take an 18-month sabbatical from the sport. Re-energised, he lobbed in Victoria in 2016 and made an impact soon after, training Written By to victory in the Blue Diamond Stakes.
Michael Dee guides Lunar Flare to victory in the Bart Cummings at Flemington.Credit:Getty Images
That reinforced the well-earned reputation the Begg name had for training sprinters, but meant his wasn’t the first raised when owners were searching for someone to map out a Melbourne Cup preparation.
Then Lunar Flare, owned by famous food and wine businessman John Valmorbida, lobbed on his doorstep after battling to impress under the care of David Hayes.
Begg went back to basics with the mare. He changed her racing pattern and began to ease her through the grades, winning a benchmark 70 over 2100 metres in her first preparation with the new boss.
Trainer Grahame Begg.Credit:Getty Images
The challenge was, said Begg, “getting her to be a racehorse”.
Begg’s way with horses is to nurse them along at the pace they find suits, and they put their hand up if they are good enough, as he saw with champion sprinter All Silent and last year’s Caulfield Cup runner-up, Nonconformist.
Lunar Flare did that in last year’s Moonee Valley Cup, which she won, and proved she might be a horse worth setting for this year’s Melbourne Cup.
“We kept on raising the bar with her. Once she won the Moonee Valley Cup we were able to give her a good spell over the summer and early autumn and then bring her up gently for this spring,” Begg said.
He had observed the masters at close quarters and knew Bart Cummings used to bring back horses for one run in the winter then he would back off again, ticking them over in light work before resuming the preparation to that first Tuesday in November.
Lunar Flare ran well in the Winter Championship Final in July then wasn’t seen until late August in the Heatherlie Stakes, followed by the Naturalism Stakes.
She was already comfortably in the Melbourne Cup field but averted any drama when she became exempt from the ballot with a win in the Bart Cummings Stakes.
She finished second in the Moonee Valley Cup, working her way home well to follow the exact path Prince Of Penzance took before winning the 2015 Melbourne Cup. Prince Of Penzance won the 2014 Moonee Valley Cup before finishing second in the race in 2015.
“[She’s] only reaching where she should be now as far as her maturity goes. That is what she was bred to do,” Begg said.
There is no doubt she will present well. Begg is known for being fastidious in everything he does; even his car is spotless, never mind his stables and the horses he takes to the track. He says “the shopfront has got to be tidy,” admitting he likes things in their right place.
Lunar Flare will be in the right place when she stands in the barrier at the top of the Flemington straight with jockey Michael Dee on board wearing the colours Taj Rossi made famous and hoping for some pace in the race, so she can relax.
When she jumps she will realise a dream in giving Begg his first runner in Australia’s most famous race.
“You always dream about that, but if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen,” Begg said.
“You have to have the right horse, and you have to have the timing right. There are a lot of things that go into the equation. We might not have the best horse in the race, but we think if she keeps progressing she is going to be fit and well on the day.”
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