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Groenewegen kicks an easy goal

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.

Groenewegen winning the RESTRICTED MAIDEN
Groenewegen winning the RESTRICTED MAIDEN Picture: Singapore Turf Club

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.”


Singapore Turf Club

Kranji Sunday, 16th August 2015

5f212y TURF GOOD
SGD $75,000

RESTRICTED MAIDEN

SGD $75,000
Type: RMDN
5f212y TURF GOOD
FP Horse, Age & Sex
Sire & Dam
Jockey
Trainer
SP
WT
1st 3. GROENEWEGEN (AUS) 3yo G
COMMANDS (AUS) - PETAL POWER (USA)
MICHAEL RODD
CLIFF BROWN
$2.6
57kg
TARNPIRR STABLE

Sales Information

2nd 5. MAGNUM (NZ) 3yo G
PER INCANTO (USA) - SOUND LOVER (NZ)
COREY BROWN
MICHAEL FREEDMAN
$2
57kg
Sam Williams, Ben Falloon, Jason Fleming, Justin Knight, Johnnie Walker, Peter Taylor, David Wallace & Michael Wallace

Sales Information

3rd 8. SOON SEEKER (AUS) 3yo G
DASH FOR CASH (AUS) - MISURA (AUS)
JOHN POWELL
SHANE DONALD BAERTSCHIGER
$10.8
57kg
SAINTS STABLE

Sales Information

4th 1. CAPTAIN CLASSIQUE (NZ) 3yo G
CAPTAIN RIO (GB) - LADY CLASSIQUE (NZ)
MANOEL NUNES
MARK WALKER
$11.2
57kg

Sales Information

5th 7. NOVA LEGEND (NZ) 3yo G
ALAMOSA (NZ) - MISS DAPHNE (NZ)
RIZUAN SHAFIQ
ALVIN TAN
$24
56kg

Sales Information

6th 10. VOYAGER (AUS) 3yo G
VISCOUNT (AUS) - MIMICRY (AUS)
JOSEPH SEE
ZHAN LUN MOK
$110.2
55kg

Sales Information

7th 9. SPUR ME ON (AUS) 3yo G
FLYING SPUR (AUS) - FLEUR DE CHINE (NZ)
I AZHAR
MICHAEL CLEMENTS
$9.8
57kg

Sales Information

8th 11. MANMADHAN (AUS) 3yo F
STREET CRY (IRE) - TIVOLI DANCER (NZ)
MARIO ESPOSITO
MICHAEL CLEMENTS
$73
55.5kg

Sales Information

9th 6. MY TOUCH (NZ) 3yo G
KEEPER (AUS) - PEARLA (NZ)
BRAD PARNHAM
DESMOND KOH
$42.2
57kg

Sales Information

10th 4. JET STRIKER (AUS) 3yo G
JET SPUR (AUS) - MISS RANSOM (AUS)
ALAN MUNRO
L KHOO
$141
57kg

Sales Information

today's racing

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