Followers of Breednet would be well aware that we are very keen on two year-old Maurice (Jpn) gelding Kibou, featuring him in Juvenile Trial Watch stories and then making him a One to Watch when he saluted at Warwick Farm and he stepped it up a notch again at Rosehill on Saturday.
Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Kibou was stepping up from 1100 to 1400m, but handled the challenge and also the race favourite Osipenko, leading all the way for Regan Bayliss to win by a length.
Gelded after his first preparation when unplaced at his only run in the Group III ATC Breeders Plate, Kibou has returned a much more focused horse although there is still much scope for improvement in his racing manners.
“That’s what’s so exciting about him, he still doesn’t know what he’s doing,” said Regan Bayliss.
“The amount if improvement he took from his first up run to today in his trackwork was significant and he brought it to the races which was really good.”
With two wins from three starts, Kibou has many similarities to Maurice’s Group I winning sprinter Mazu, who also took great benefit from being gelded allowing him to focus on the task of being a racehorse.
Bought from Inglis Classic as was Mazu, Kibou was snapped up by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott / Kestrel Thoroughbreds for $170,000 from the Arrowfield draft and is the second winner from Fortiche, a half-sister to multiple Group winner Mic Mac.
Maurice is slated to return to Arrowfield this spring at a fee of $82,500.
