Bundaberg Cup champion Jagger Moves looking further north

By Jordan Gerrans

Bundaberg Cup champion Jagger Moves could chase more regional Queensland feature races with trainer Robert Jacobsen considering heading further north to Rockhampton later this year.

The son of Jagger Swagger was a shock winner of the Group 3 Cup in Bundaberg on Monday afternoon, upsetting hot favourite Lucky Lance in the last few strides before the winning post.

The Brisbane-based trainer is in two minds around where the emerging stayer will be targeted to next, considering the Rockhampton and Grafton Cups in the coming weeks.

It is a lengthy drive from his Summerholm-based kennel to Central Queensland for Jacobsen but he believes a tilt at the Rockhampton Cup would suit his chaser.

The Rockhampton Cup Final will be run on April 29 – with heats seven days before – over the 510-metre journey with $60,000 on offer in the Beef Capital of Australia.

“It is a long way to go to Rockhampton but it would probably suit the dog,” Jacobsen said of Jagger Moves’ upcoming plans.

Racing Queensland will run wildcard races as local lead up events for both the Rockhampton and Townsville Cups in 2022, with identical prize money to what was on offer in the recent Bundaberg Wildcard.

Jagger Moves did his best work late in the piece on Monday afternoon over the 550-metre trip on the grass track at Bundaberg and his trainer believes he can get more ground as he builds his fitness and experience over the staying journeys.

Jagger Moves’ kennel mate He’s So Cool is likely to follow him on a Cup campaign after running sixth in Monday’s Bundaberg Cup.

“Jagger Moves might even run a 600-metre trip out if I can get him really fit,” he said.

“He will run anywhere between 450 and 600 metres, but we will probably give him and his kennel mate He’s So Cool a go down at Grafton for their Cup if we can get down there.

“I would like to take him down and give him a trial and see how he goes before we step him up.

“He is finishing his races off better now.

“The track at Grafton will suit him and maybe his kennel mate even better.”

The Grafton Cup heats will be held on May 1.

Jacobsen, the winner of the 2021 Group 3 Golden Ticket at Albion Park, bred the litter Jagger Moves comes from with a friend of his, sending the dog down to Tasmania for his early racing, before he returned to the Sunshine State.

He believes the kennel is now seeing the best of Jagger Moves as he is a highly strung dog and just loves his racing and as he has settled down, improved performances have come.

Meanwhile, the Sunshine State will be represented by two kennels in the TAB Million Dollar Chase Regional Heats on Thursday afternoon at Casino.

Darren Russell’s Deck Fifty Two – the winner of the Group 3 National Straight Track Championship Final at Capalaba late last year – will contest the second heat on Thursday over 484 metres from box five. 

Fellow Queenslander Clinton Kratzmann makes the trip south as well with In No Rush, who is set to jump from box one in the first of the two heats.