It was less than a fortnight ago that the French-raced mare clattered onto firm ground in Australia around midnight on October 18 after making the 23-hour trip from London to Melbourne via Doha with Ben Elam (and an expensive Bentley) for company.
Since then,she has been based at Werribee under the watchful eye of training partner Mick Price and Mick Kent jnr and on Tuesday she will head out to Flemington to be ridden in track work for the first time by Craig Williams,who will ride Lastotchka in the Cup.
After a CT scan in the afternoon,Lastotchka will then be in the home straight heading towards the Melbourne Cup the following Tuesday.
Already the four-year-old mare has won her stable bosses’ respect and admiration.
“She eats and drinks and works and has a beautiful temperament,” Kent jnr said.
And she has needed those qualities because as Kent jnr admits,“everything had to go right” to get to this point. Jamie Lovett from Australian Bloodstock bought the dual group 3 winner a little over a month ago with an ambitious plan to have her race in the Cup.