The horse David Hayes hopes could become Lindsay Park's fourth Northern Hemisphere-bred Melbourne Cup winner will make her stable debut at Flemington's Sporting Chance Community Raceday this Saturday.
Fictional Account (IRE), a seven-year-old daughter of Stravinsky, will have her first Australian start in the $70,000 Stirling Mortlock Handicap (2000m).
Hayes and his legendary father Colin have shared in Melbourne Cup success with imports Belldale Ball (1980), At Talaq (1986) and Jeune (1994) and while the Hall of Fame trainer is not yet convinced Fictional Account is up to that grade, she has her fair share of talent.
“We're hoping she can measure up to be a cups contender,” Hayes said. “She's got good overseas form and her trackwork suggests she's well above average,” he said.
“She's not acting like a seven-year-old, she's a big, strong girl that works quite nicely.”
Fictional Account had 23 starts in Europe for six wins, the most recent coming over Ascot's Gold Cup winner Fame And Glory in the Listed Irish St Leger Trial (2800m) last August.
She then ran last of six on an unsuitable slow track in the Group 1 Irish St Leger with her final start in England producing a fourth in the Listed Rose Bowl (3200m) at Newmarket on 22 September.
She was engaged to run at Flemington on 19 May, but a minor hoof problem delayed her return by a couple of months.
Hayes will be guided by Saturday's showing as to what path he will take with Fictional Account, but anticipates she will need to force her way into either the $2.65m BMW Caulfield Cup on 20 October or the $6.2m Emirates Melbourne Cup on 6 November.
“I think this year's race is going to be very hard to get in, so we'll be giving her the race to learn a bit about her this weekend and then we'll be targeting the qualifying races.”
Dwayne Dunn will be aboard when Fictional Account tackles a handy field of off-season middle-distance performers first up, with My Bentley heading a list of rivals that also include South Australian Sky Raider, the gritty Streaky Fella and Winter Championship runner-up Galileo Gold.
The Stirling Mortlock Handicap is the third event on an eight-event Flemington card that begins at 12.10pm.
The Monjon Australia Handicap (Race 7) is a cracking sprint with one-time favourite for last year's Blue Diamond Stakes, the Peter Moody-trained Golden Archer, resuming alongside former star Western Australian filly Night War.
Quality off-season sprinters Canali, Shock Value, Beyond Pardon, Broken and Freereturn add depth to the 1000m event.
The Fujitsu Air Conditioning Handicap (1600m, Race 6) is also full of quality with Group 2 winner Domesky heading a field that includes import Saptapdi, consistent mare Placement, last week's Caulfield winner Prince Of Capers and classy former Queenslander Streets Away.
Another highlight of the fourth event on the Flemington card, the $70,000 Bob Skilton Handicap (1100m), which showcases the return of classy Mike Moroney-trained colt African Pulse and Chris Hyland's middle-distance prospect Bombalatomba.