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Groenewegen may be a name that means little in Singapore, not to mention hard to pronounce, but he sure made a few friends among the punters with a scintillating win second-up in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden Division 2 race over 1200m on Sunday.
If names given to horses bore any significance to their namesake, trainer Cliff Brown jokingly said the Commands colt was one apple which did not fall too far from the tree.
“He’s named after a famous Footscray Australian Football League (AFL) player called Robert Groenewegen who was a bit mad,” said the Australian trainer, a die-hard Geelong Cats fan himself.
“You can say this horse was a bit above himself at his first race as well, but it’s okay as he was new and is still a colt. But he’s improved a lot since and he was a lot better behaved today.
“He definitely has a bright future here. He won very well today and I’m very pleased with that.”
Raced by the Dish & Dime Stable, Groenewegen was sent off as the $13 favourite and never gave his backers any anxious moments when he took up the running from his good gate, though the next best-backed horse, Michael Freedman’s newcomer Magnum did breathe down his neck for the major part of the race.
But once Groenewegen cornered and he put a space of two lengths on the chasing pack, the issue was quickly put beyond doubt. Magnum did come within a length and a half at one stage but once Rodd went all out, the race was over.
Groenewegen romped in by just under four lengths from Magnum, who also showed signs of greenness in the home straight but will definitely prove a useful sort for his connections, with Scimitar (John Powell) third another three lengths away. The winning time was 1min 11.28secs for the 1200m on the Long Course.
“He’s a good galloper and felt like a real racehorse throughout, though he’s still a big baby,” said Rodd.
“I actually wanted him to follow another horse just to give him some cover and teach him to settle, but at the half-mile there was no-one and we stayed in front.
“At the 600m, I gave him a squeeze and he quickened up really well and got away from them. He was looking around a fair bit, though, but he was just too good in the end.”