Robert Heathcote meant it as a compliment when he declared Mein Schadenfreude a future hurdler.

After 12 attempts at winning a race, Mein Schadenfreude, the $2.20 favourite, finally broke through for his first success in Wednesday's Haymes Paint Australia Handicap (2240m) at Doomben.

The gelding ploughed through testing conditions win by 3-1/4 lengths, posting a time almost 10 seconds outside the class record.

"He's got the right temperament to make it as a jumper and winning on a heavy 10 is a good advertisement for a hurdling career down the track," he said.

Heathcote has had the gelding on the market for several months and thought he found a buyer until the sale fell through at the last minute.

"Not long ago I tried to sell him, cheap, but the guy who was going to buy him said there were no suitable races for him in Rockhampton so he decided to pull out," he said.

"Since then he's won $16,000 but after that win there should be a few people down south who will want him as a jumper now that he's shown he can win on a wet track."

In a last-ditch attempt to extract the most out of Mein Schadenfreude's limited ability, Heathcote re-applied blinkers and stepped the gelding up to 2240m.

Meanwhile, Liam Birchley's decision to prolong the career of Sarge In Charge was vindicated when the gelding ended a long run of outs in the Sirromet Wines Plate (1030m).

"He's had a few problems. He bled in Melbourne then he had a wind operation and we could easily have pulled the pin," Birchley said.

"But he's been relatively lightly raced for a six-year-old and he rarely gets these sort of conditions which he absolutely loves."