Jack Bruce eyeing bigger targets after Grinzinger Champ salutes at Doomben

Jack Bruce said bigger races could now be on the radar for Grinzinger Champ after she fought strongly to make it two straight wins in Queensland at Doomben.

Jack Bruce might have been having heart palpitations 600m from the finish, but Grinzinger Champ showed her tenaciousness and left the trainer daring to dream of having a crack at stakes races in the future.

Grinzinger Champ, who started her racing career with Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Danny O’Brien, was purchased by Bruce for $115,000 and made it two Queensland wins in a row when scoring at Doomben on Saturday.

Grinzinger Champ was sent out at $1.90 but it was far from plain sailing with premiership-winning jockey Ben Thompson hard at work at the four-year-old mare a fair way from home.

Grinzinger Champ set out after the leaders and won by over a length in a race where she ran past runner-up Spirit Of Barty ($4.40), who was carrying 4.5kg less in the Fillies and Mares Class 3 Plate (1200m).

“We discussed just putting this mare where she was comfortable in the race and not reading too much into the pattern of them all going forward,” Bruce said.

“I must admit at the 600m, I thought she needed to do a bit of work.

“I was proud of her today, she had the big weight of 60kg and she is not overly big.

“She did a really good job to pick them up and the horse who ran second had a big pull in the weights.”

Bruce, who trained 28 city winners last season and 83.5 overall in Queensland, said consistency is the thing that will help lift him further up the premiership charts this season.

It is horses like Grinzinger Champ who are the bread and butter, but the mare could have a promising racing future of her own after notching her fourth win from eight starts.

“When you are buying them, you do dare to dream that there is the option for Stakes races down the track,” Bruce said.

“That could be a fair while away, she has won a fillies and mares Class 3 today and there is plenty of room to improve.

“But she is a little trier, she has a good crack at it, so that stands her in good stead.

“At the 100m, she needed to dig in and get it done and she did.

Meanwhile, Ryan Tyrell’s newly turned three-year-old filly Hot Image defied her starting price profile to annihilate her opposition in the QTIS 3YO Handicap (1200).

In five previous starts, Hot Image had started $151, $71, $201, $91 and $41.

Sent out at $18 at Doomben, the roughest of the six-horse field, Hot Image rounded them up and put them away by more than four lengths.

The race was significantly weakened by the raceday scratching of Tony Gollan’s unbeaten filly Boonie Boom who would have started hot favourite.

Original article from News.com.au on 1st August 2026 - https://www.news.com.au/sport/superracing/jack-bruce-eyeing-bigger-targets-after-grinzinger-champ-salutes-at-doomben/news-story/e6009bde67d85c736e747d0f4477dc68