Off the scene for nearly 12 months, the Grahame Begg-trained Our Libretto staged a remarkable performance to open her Australian account in Wednesday's Mypunter.com Plate at Sandown.
The 4yo daughter of O’Reilly had two starts in New Zealand without hitting the board.
She must have been showing something in training as continued support saw her odds slashed from $11 to $6.
But things looked grim when Jordan Childs was hard at work on the strapping mare who had just one behind her with 300 metres left to run.
Carrying the colours of Jonathon Munz, Our Libretto came with a barnstorming finish to defeat Peppino (Pierro) by two and three-quarter lengths with Emily I Am (Magnus) three-quarter of a length back in third.
"She’s been in work for some months, spending some time with David Noonan at Balnarring Beach,” Begg told Racing.com
"She had quite a few issues in New Zealand with her feet and immature knees and Jonathon Munz was a bit undecided what he wanted to do with her, so he gave her a plenty of time.
"She bulked on the weight and was up around the 600-kilo mark when she first came to me, but we were able to trim her down nicely.
"she’s bred to be a filly that gets over a lot more distance but that was a very strong win today.
"I think she's a very exciting prospect going forward because if she can run up to her pedigree obviously we can make some plans for her.
There’s a lot of upside with this filly and now that she’d done that today we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”
Purchased out of the Waikato Stud draft by Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock for $400,000 at the 2015 NZB Premier Yearling Sale, Our Libretto (pictured as a yearling ) is a half-sister to dual Group III winner Epingle (Pins) and the stakes-placed Etoile Filante (Pins).
She is the sixth foal of the stakes-winning Zabeel mare Etoile Du Nord whose granddam Pailleron (Majestic Light) is an unraced sister to Hidden Light the dam of Artie Schiller (USA).
