Trainer and jockey quotes after the Ray White Ipswich Class 3 Plate at Ipswich on Saturday taken out by Atmosphere.
Race Result:
1st: Atmosphere (Jack Bruce/Angela Jones) - $4.20
2nd: I See You Coming (Tony Gollan/Ryan Maloney) - $9
3rd: Spirit Queen (Tony Gollan/Vlad Duric) - $9
Winning Time: 1:04.31 Last 600m: 34.46
Margins: sh hd x 1L
Atmosphere digs deep under Ange Jones and wins at his first start for the @JackBruceRacing stable and @HighCalibre01 pic.twitter.com/vB0IN1K7IX
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 22, 2024
Winning Trainer: Jack Bruce
Great result for connections: "Yes there are plenty of the owners here, and by the sounds of things a few of them had a bit of a bet today. I wouldn't say I encouraged that, but I'm very happy for them and it was a great effort by the horse first-up."
Confidence levels: "I was fairly confident, although he doesn't have a great winning record. He's only won two races before in his career but he brings some good form lines with him, and it was just about getting his confidence back. I wouldn't want to watch that race again, but it's done now and it's great to get his first win for us out of the way early."
"He gave a good kick and I suppose because he hadn't raced for six months, I just wanted to make sure he was battle hardened. He would've had to run some pretty slick times to hold them off, so he's done a really good job. I could see Tony's horse coming and I thought to myself, here we go. But he hung tough and it's a credit to the horse because he'll be a handy addition to the Queensland ranks, which is why we bought him. So I hope it's the start of something special for the stable."
Winning Jockey: Angela Jones
"He's a lovely horse, and he's a real pleasure to ride. I love riding these big striding horses which really appreciate rolling along out the front. Barrier one was a great advantage for him, he was able to jump and find the paint which made it smooth. He just did enough to hold on but we wouldn't have wanted it any further."
"There's plenty of improvement to come, so credit to Jack Bruce for having him right first-up. I was a little bit worried about his first-up record, but off his trials I was pretty confident."
