She's blitzed her Australian opposition every time she's hit the Moonee Valley track and star Kiwi mare Imperatriz looks primed to do it again tomorrow.
The five-year-old Australasian sprinting sensation is the hot favourite in the Mankiato Stakes in Melbourne, having blown her rivals away in both her starts at the track last month.
And the warning is being sounded again.
"We think we've got her as good as she can get," Te Akau Racing trainer Mark Walker noted ominously after trackwork. "She's extremely well. But they don't give away Group Ones in Australia, that's for sure. We're respectful of the opposition."
That opposition features just six other runners, the best of which are nine rating points below her, with Brisbane-based runner Uncommon James the only rival with Group One success to its name.
Imperatriz is gunning for her sixth Group One triumph, two of which have already come on Aussie soil.
The soil of Moonee Valley seems particularly to the liking of Imperatriz. Both Group Ones across the Tasman have come at the unique track, which has a straight less than 180 metres long, while her first start in this campaign was an eye-catching win in the Group 2 McEwen Stakes.
So why does the slingshot-style bend suit her? It's pretty simple according to Walker.
"I think it's got quite a camber and she comes off that top bend and when you watch her change to that outside leg, she seems to pick up a gear. So she can just run lightning fast sectionals."
Imperatriz was bought at the Magic Millions sale by Te Akau supremo David Ellis for just $360,000. She's already won nearly $3 million in stakes money.
Getting to that point is a story in itself. Walker revealed the training method they've found to suit her, which involves far more work on a treadmill compared to trackwork than most horses.
"She just had quite a few back complaints through the spring and last year," he explained. "So we just really tweaked her training programme and it really seems to have worked for her. Since we did that she's only been beaten once in Sydney and she's won every other start.
"It's a low-impact type of exercise compared to having a rider on her back every day. It just seems to keep horses more supple, more free and obviously it's working."
Walker and connections have "no regrets whatsoever" about targeting her at Victoria's big spring sprinting prizes, as opposed to the fanfare of The Everest in Sydney. She was a sought-after commodity for the slot-race, won earlier in the month by Think About It, but connections refused to budge.
It looks likely to pay off, at least this weekend. She's been drawn the favourable barrier of four and, with gun jockey Opie Bosson on board, looks poised to pounce.
"I think it (the barrier) is really good because we're not going to end up on the fence, we're going to end up one off somewhere.
"Even if we're back last, she can just run those sectionals, especially at the Valley which are quite sensational really."
The race is timed to jump tomorrow at 6:20pm NZT.
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