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Barend Vorster took his second win of the day as he rode Genius to victory in the $75,000 Open two-year-old race (1100m) on Polytrack on Sunday.
Having already shaded the Restricted Maiden 1200m race earlier atop Shane Baertschiger’s Big Man, the South African hoop was next tasked to pilot the $7 race favourite Genius in a race where his one win and one second in three starts undoubtedly gave him the best credentials.
Jumping well from barrier one, the Onemorenomore two-year-old railed through to settle behind the early leader Eagle Soar (Joseph See), whom he resolutely took on as they straightened up.
Accelerating beautifully, Genius looked home and hosed, but did have to fend off a late charge from Aloha (Koh Teck Huat) on the outside in the closing stages of the race before falling in by half-a-length. Lim’s Casino (Soo Khoon Beng) made a late dash to the line to come in third, a further two lengths away.
The winning time was 1min 6.32secs on the Polytrack.
Khoo was obviously pleased with Genius’ performance, but did say he was not without a few maturity issues.
“I was quite worried towards the end of the home straight,” said the Singaporean trainer.
“Coming out of the turn, he did well but after that he showed he was still very green. Horses this young always look around when they have no one in front of them and will only put in the additional effort if another horse comes up alongside.
“At the moment, it is still too early to tell how he will develop but I have a feeling he will make a good miler.
“But for his next race event, I will stick to the sprints, probably in the $200,000 Juvenile Championship over 1200m in July.”
Vorster echoed Khoo’s opinion on the gelding’s immaturity.
“It’s tricky because he is still young,” said Vorster. “He was still concentrating for the first half of the home straight but towards the second half, he started to idle and started looking around for company.
“So far we only managed to get him in sprint events. Only time will tell if he can go further.”
