Dylan Gibbons has kept up his momentum with a composed performance aboard Brave One in the Quayclean Handicap (1300m) at Randwick, continuing his strong late-season return.
The win was Gibbons’ fifth Saturday metro victory since late May and came after a long spell away from racing due to shoulder surgery. Reflecting on his time off, Gibbons noted it gave him clarity on decision-making in races.
“When I had that time off I had a lot of time to think,” Gibbons said.
“You replay races in your mind all the time and lots of the time – although in Australian racing three-deep isn’t the place to be – it’s better than being three-back and one-off (the fence) in a slow race and over-racing.
“From those wide alleys you can really only beat yourself.
“It obviously helps when you’ve got a horse with ability but I think that showed today because he was able to cruise across, have cover for the first half and then from there on in it was a matter of point and shoot.”
Gibbons’ familiarity with the Hawkes Racing team has been a key factor in his recent form. Since moving to Sydney from Newcastle, he has become a regular at Rosehill trackwork and formed strong ties with the stable.
“They’ve got one instruction and that’s to ride the horse and keep the horse happy. It is pretty easy when your only plan is to do exactly that,” Gibbons said.
“There were no instructions from out wide. I trusted the horse and it paid off. I gave him a chance to go and win it and he did just that.”
Brave One, previously tried in stakes grade, looks set to climb back up the ranks. Stable representative Steve Thompson said the plan was to build his rating before targeting black-type races again.
“We will just go through his grades but he is above average,” Thompson said.
“We will try to get his rating points up and then probably look at getting some Listed or black-type into him later.”
The gelding started as the $4 favourite and justified that status with a 1-3/4 length win over Secure ($5), with Lunaite ($5) a further three-quarters of a length behind.
Punters looking to follow Brave One’s progress into feature company can find early odds and markets through Australia’s top-rated betting apps.
