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Chris Gibbs has exercised plenty of patience with his promising stayer Sweet But Psycho and he hopes that can continue to pay off when she contests the Dunstan Horsefeeds Stayers Championship Qualifier (2100m) at Ruakaka on Wednesday.
The daughter of Proisir is a full-sister to Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) placegetter Aspen Colorado, aspirations her connections shared for Sweet But Psycho , who ended up debuting as a late three-year-old.
"Being by Proisir, I wasn't really sure (what her ideal distance would be), and she was very precocious as a young horse," Gibbs said. "As she's gotten older, she's really chilled out and become a lot more of that staying type of mare that we'd expected.
"She'd had a few little niggles and her owners were so patient, obviously we all wanted her to race as a three-year-old like her sister did, but we just didn't get that result.
"Sometimes, it can swing in roundabouts, and I'm hoping since we didn't pressure her early, we can get that result out of her when she's older because she is lightly raced."
A deserved reward for the connections came at Te Aroha last month, when the mare won her maiden comfortably over subsequent winner Interplanetary.
"Masa (Hashizume) rode her beautifully there and knows her well, I'm happy to have him back on. He's in such good form, he's flying recently," Gibbs said.
"The mare has trained on really well, she used to have bad luck with her draws, and she's drawn the outside here, but thankfully there are only 10 in it, so it won't make such a big difference and I'd expect her to be very competitive."
Gibbs will be represented by another four runners at his home meeting, with debutant Guipago carrying some special colours in the Hirepool (1400m).
Purchased for $16,000 through gavelhouse.com, the son of Tivaci is part-owned by Gibbs' father Jim Gibbs, who trained 145 stakes winners during his highly-successful career.
"He's probably the horse that I hope to see do well, I have a huge opinion of him," Gibbs said.
"He's exciting and my Dad has a share in him, which is a good thing because he's a lucky bugger. I rang him and asked if I could race him in his colours, which you wouldn't have seen on a thoroughbred or a trotter for a long time, so hopefully he can perform for him.
"I'm hoping he's something a bit special, he's still green but he's got endless amounts of ability and the penny hasn't dropped yet. He's going to be right in it, he's an exceptionally nice horse."
Eva Magical will aim to improve on a strong first-up effort in the Art And Stone (1200m), with her most-recent start for second out of her grade.
"She's drawn nicely, it's just unfortunate that we've had to go into another Rating 60 because there was no maiden 1200," Gibbs said. "She gets her chance and it'll be interesting to see how she goes, she's trained on super well.
"She was a funny little thing, I got her off Sam Williams through Gavelhouse and she is a typical Per Incanto, very tough.
"She eats like an elephant and for a little sprinter, I have to work her quite hard, which isn't the way I'd normally train."
Gibbs will revert back to his original race tactics for Pure Delight in the Truweld Engineering (1600m), after the mare raced out of her usual pattern at Ellerslie last start.
"I take responsibility for that one, watching the earlier couple of races, they were going on-pace, on-pace, and the rail was out which tends to favour frontrunners," Gibbs said.
"With that in mind, I spoke to Sam Spratt about going forward but unfortunately she just had no gate speed and only travelled for a very brief amount of time before they quickened again. Her sectionals weren't that bad, but she didn't show that turn-of-foot she showed in previous runs, so she'll have to be ridden quietly.
"She's drawn quite well which is good, but she'll be ridden quietly over the mile to be given one run at them. Hopefully we can get a result."