Maurice youngster Kibou still has a lot to learn about racing but when he does figure it out, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott will have a promising horse on their hands.
A $170,000 Inglis Classic purchase, the youngster made it two wins from as many starts this campaign when he led throughout in Saturday’s ATC Bookmakers Recognition Day Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill.
Rising in distance after scoring over 1100m first-up at Warwick Farm, Kibou had his head in the air early before jockey Regan Bayliss was able to get him to race more tractably and relax in front.
But once he balanced for home, Kibou kicked strongly to hold out odds-on favourite Osipenko with Razeta a battling third.
Stable representative Neil Paine said Kibou was a work in progress but oozed natural talent.
“Terrific win. Naturally, stepping up from 1100 to 1400, you could see him just go a little bit keen for Regan,” Paine said.
“But Regan has got beautiful hands, so he relaxed the horse from the 1000 and just got him into a rhythm.
“He got a nice time in front and then bang, he pinged off the turn, so it was a very promising win.”
Bayliss also partnered Kibou to his Warwick Farm victory and said while the two-year-old was still doing things wrong, his racing manners were improving with each start.
“His behaviour was a lot better today. He travelled in my hands a lot nicer than he did the other day,” Bayliss said.
“The amount of improvement he took from that first-up run to today in his trackwork was significant and he brought it to the races which was good to see.”
Paine was unsure of the stable’s plans for Kibou but said he would be an even better horse next preparation.
