"He beat a handy field and did it like a horse who had plenty up his sleeve.
"With all the activity going on with the sale, and what not, we hadn't done too much with him, but when that fell through we decided to run him and he did the job for us."
Despite believing the horse has the ability to compete at a higher level, Gibbs isn't looking too far ahead as further expressions of interest in purchasing him came in overnight.
"It's no secret he is for sale and the phone was ringing again [on Saturday night]," Gibbs said.
"A performance like that will certainly get people interested so we're not really in a position to plan out a campaign for him as he could be gone just as quickly.
"Obviously if he stays with us, we will be looking at some of the better spring and summer races but at this stage, I can't really say what is going to happen."
The Gibbs/Bradley combination was in the thick of the action throughout the day on their home turf, taking out the opening event with two-year-old debutant Annie's Song as well as producing Poker Face to win the day's feature race, the ITM/GIB Whangārei Gold Cup (2100m).
In between times, they also narrowly missed making it four wins for the day when promising stayer Amazing Az was beaten by a nose over 1600m.
"It was a really good day and we won with horses who have bright futures ahead of them," Gibbs said.
"Poker Face has really come into his own now he has stepped up over some ground.
"I actually thought he might be a little out-gunned at the weights but he ended up winning comfortably.
"He may have found his niche over ground so I think we will probably back off him a little and look to races like the Waikato Cup (Gr.3, 2400m) or Counties Cup (Gr.3, 2100m) later this year.
"Those are the types of races that Amazing Az could contest as well so we may have a job on our hands trying to keep them apart.
"Annie's Song was very impressive and will only get better as she steps up in distance.
"I really like her and a race like the Northland Breeders' Stakes (Gr.3, 1200m) back here in September is one we will be keen to see her contest."
Race results:
Race 1: Whangārei ITM (1000-metre)
1st: Annie's Song (6) - C Grylls
2nd: Tumbleweed (4) - M Coleman
3rd: The Buffer (2) - R Smyth
Race 2: Fell Engineering (1200m)
1st: Massachusetts (3) - A Calder
2nd: She's A Smash Hit (12) - M Coleman
3rd: Sweet Painted Lady (7) - T Thornton
Race 3: Bay of Islands ITM (1200m)
1st: Bevan Street (6) - C Grylls
2nd: Von Trapp (7) - A Calder
3rd: Star Treasure (3) - S Spratt
Race 4: ITM/GIB (1600m)
1st: Light Shadow (4) - D Mansour
2nd: Amazing Az (6) - C Grylls
3rd: Go Nicholas (2) - T Yanagida
Race 5: Hirepool (1200m)
1st: Stylish Suggestion (11) - S Spratt
2nd: Viola Vega (6) - R Smyth
3rd: Shesonfire (10) - C Grylls
Race 6: ITM/GIB Whangārei Gold Cup (2100m)
1st: Poker Face (6) - T Thornton
2nd: Woodsman (4) - M Kareem
3rd: Locally Sauced (8) - D Mansour
Race 7 Northland Business Systems (1400m)
1st: Bruegel (4) - M Coleman
2nd: Copper Mine (1) - A Calder
3rd: Badea (11) - M Hashizume
Race 8: United Security Northland (1600m)
1st: Mac Attacka (1) - M Cameron
2nd: Livvy Lass (11) - D Mansour
3rd: Our Wonderland (4) - T Thornton
