Where had the real Imoto been hiding before she bolted in at Echuca on Monday?

Imoto (3f Bianconi – Fuji Fairy by Fuji Kiseki) was still a maiden after five starts but she won the Betfair Plate (1600m) like a filly with a future.  The others were just making up the numbers after she crossed from an outside gate to carve them up by seven lengths.

It was a black-book effort by a filly who could eventually join her older half-sister in black-type company.

Imoto is trained by Mick Price for owner-breeder Pip Cooper after being passed-in for $17,000 at the 2010 Inglis Classic yearling sale.  Her older half-sister had been named Yosei and she came out and blitzed a Benalla maiden less than a month after the Classic Sale.

Yosei (Invincible Spirit) has only won another three races but she’s reserved them for the big time in the G1 AJC Sires’ Produce Stakes, MRC 1000 Guineas and Qld Tattersall’s Tiara.  Last time out she was beaten a length into third place by More Joyous and Shoot Out in the G1 Doncaster Mile at Randwick.

Pip Cooper has close ties with Swettenham and the stud’s farrier John Pittard.  She lent him Fuji Fairy to take up a free return to Invincible Spirit and she also named the filly Yosei after the Japanese word that refers to fairies and spirits from native folklore.

Fuji Fairy was covered by Bianconi a month after Yosei was foaled.  The mare produced a stunning filly and Cooper named her Imoto which is Japanese for sister.

Fuji Fairy foaled a Denman filly on Victorian Oaks day in 2011 and she was given a break from breeding this year.

Bianconi (Danzig) stands for a $6,600 early-bird fee at Swettenham.  He is currently fourth on the Victorian sires’ premiership behind Bel Esprit, Reset and Dash For Cash with earnings of $2.48 million.