There have been tears of joy, excitement and anticipation. as the Ballarat trainer prepares to saddle up import Lord Fandango in the group 1 $3 million handicap.

Through all this though his main focus has remained fairly and squarely on having the German-bred five-year-old spot on for the race of his life.

Neither has missed a beat since Lord Fandango took out the group 2 $400,000 Herbert Power Handicap at Caulfield on Saturday to lock in a Caulfield Cup start.

He started the week with a couple of days of swimming after what he described as an “easy time” for him in winning and has continued with nothing more than light work.

Alexander is confident the entire is primed to run the race of ready of his life in what has been a whirlwind rise in a relatively short time in Australia.

This is not the first time the English-born Alexander has had a Caulfield Cup runner in the three years has been training in his own right.

In what was a remarkable turn of events, he sent another import Renew around in the 2014 Cup.

Renew arrived in his stable just five days before the event and was only Alexander’s eighth starter in a race.

His journey with Lord Fandango has been much different and undoubtedly more satisfying, given all the credit for making the field this time around is squarely on Alexander’s shoulders.

Alexander has had high hopes for the OTI Racing-owned son of Lord of England since the day arrived in his stable midway through last season.

However, Lord Fandango has fast-tracked his own career with a series of efforts in quick succession which have surprised everyone in his camp.

He has gone from winning a benchmark78 in Ballarat in April to taking out the Benalla Cup and then the Herbert Power – all within the space of just five starts.

One of those runs included a second behind smart mare and stablemate Wheal Leisure, which is targeting Wednesday’s Geelong Cup.

Alexander said it was difficult to assess Lord Fandango’s chances given how quickly he had risen through the classes, but a top four finish would be a great result.

“His improvement’s been so rapid, coming a long way such a short time.”

Alexander said no matter what Lord Fandango did in the Caulfield Cup, his campaign had been a wonderful success.

And excitingly Alexander has no doubt that he will be even better next spring, when the Melbourne Cup is likely to be a target. He was not nominated this year.

Lord Fandango, which is part-owned in Ballarat, is part of a 40-strong team Alexander has in work at a stable bordering the Dowling Forest Racecourse and one of eight which carry the OTI Racing colours.

He said it was pleasing to be able to reward the confidence OTI had show in him since he opened his stable.

Having a Caulfield Cup runner continues what has so far been an outstanding season for Alexander - winning 11 races at a strike rate of 18 percent. This includes eight victories from his latest 22 starters.

Temple of Bel ($6.50) provided another city winner in the $120,000 Alannah Hill Plate, 1600m, at Caulfield on Wednesday.